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To: richardred who wrote (543)	11/21/2006 9:27:33 AM
From: richardred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3363

Ball Maker: Nike Move Could Cost Jobs Tuesday November 21, 7:24 am ET By Paul Garwood, Associated Press Writer Pakistan Soccer-Ball Maker Says Nike Move to Cut Orders Could Cost Over 4,000 Jobs ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Nike Inc.'s decision to cancel orders from a Pakistan-based supplier of hand-stitched soccer balls due to labor violations could cost the company more than 4,000 jobs, its general manager said Tuesday. Saga Sports, which employs 8,000 to 9,000 people, exported products valued at 2 billion rupees (almost $33 million) last year, said the company's general manager, Rizwan Dar. He said soccer balls for Nike accounted for 70 percent of the company's business. "If we don't have the Nike deal, we don't have further options, and it will be difficult to run the show with this huge volume of people," Dar told The Associated Press. "I fear more than half of our employees could lose their jobs." Nike, the world's largest maker of athletic apparel, accused Saga Sports of having soccer balls hand-stitched inside private homes, raising the potential for the use of underaged workers and unsafe working conditions. Nike, in a statement, said its investigation also uncovered "serious allegations by trade union representatives and other Saga employees of worker harassment, wrongful termination and inaccurate payment of wages." Nike said similar violations were found in an unannounced audit of Sialkot-based Saga by the Fair Labor Association, a U.S.-based coalition of industry, labor, consumer and human rights groups. Dar said it was "shameful" that there had been violations and all employees who had been underpaid have since had their arrears provided. Many staff were not being paid the government-mandated monthly salary of 4,000 rupees ($66), Dar said. He said several Saga supervisors had been running offsite, unauthorized hand-stitched soccer-ball operations inside four or five homes, but this had been recently stopped and the workers taken to the company's authorized stitching centers. "This is a trauma that we can't get out of our minds and we are asking Nike for time for compliance," Dar said. Nike President and CEO Mark Parker said the company held repeated meetings with Saga executives to correct the problems but "Saga did not make needed changes." "Rather than continue with Saga, we have decided to limit our supply of hand-stitched soccer balls as we are developing new sources with factories committed to upholding our standards and treating workers fairly," Parker said. Saga was among several Sialkot sporting goods manufacturers that in 1997 signed an agreement with the U.N. International Labor Organization and world football's governing body, FIFA, to phase out children working in soccer-ball stitching centers. Major buyers like Adidas and Nike require manufacturers to verify their balls have not been made using child labor. biz.yahoo.com