NYU’s chapter of Students for International Labor Solidarity called on the university to cut its contract with Nike in letters to administrators, following accusations of wage theft at a Thailand factory that provides the NYU Bookstore with Nike-branded merchandise.
The group expands on the initiatives from Pay Your Workers NYU — who has been demanding that the university cut its with Nike since last October. NYU SILS sent one letter to Associate Vice President of Campus Services Owen Moore last month, as well as another to Moore and one to Director of Athletics Jake Olkkola on Friday afternoon.
A member of NYU SILS, who requested to go by his first name, David, told WSN that in the letters, the group asked university administration for a meeting and an update on NYU’s April request for Nike to respond to the wage theft claims. He added that the group is pushing for NYU to cut ties with the company by the end of the academic year.
“We will probably plan more escalatory actions to try to help get a meeting or get more of a response out of them, because that’s all we want — to talk about this contract that they have with Nike,” David said. “NYU was originally so willing to talk, discuss and even bring it up with Nike. I hope a meeting does happen, but I am prepared to plan for something in case it doesn’t.”
NYU administrators had said that the university was seeking a “credible” response from Nike by May 1 regarding an alleged “scheme to avoid paying workers legally required wages” at the Thailand factory, as reported by the NYU-affiliated Worker Rights Consortium in 2021. NYU SILS members said that the university has not communicated with the group regarding whether it received a response from Nike.
On Friday, about a dozen NYU SILS members left the letters in Moore and Olkkola’s offices, but did not meet with them in-person. The students also gave Moore a pumpkin embellished with a Nike logo and the phrase “just cut it.”
“Owen Moore was definitely a lot more optimistic earlier this past semester, so now we’re just trying to continue that and get to have a meeting with him so that we can discuss getting the contract cut,” a club member who requested to go by their first name, Niko, said in an interview with WSN. “He has not responded to the past letter that was sent on Sept. 19.”
The WRC published a report in 2021 accusing Nike of ignoring “overwhelming evidence of worker coercion” and not adequately compensating its employees at Hong Seng Knitting — the factory in Bangkok that makes Nike apparel. Thai law states that employers were required to pay temporary workers reduced wages, but the workers allegedly didn’t receive any compensation after the factory closed in 2020.
Last academic year, NYU’s chapter of Pay Your Workers held several demonstrations outside the NYU Bookstore and delivered a letter to NYU President Linda Mills on Feb. 16. In the letter to Mills, the group claimed that university administration refused to have a meeting with them about Nike’s labor violations, and said that Nike’s alleged wage theft and treatment of workers violates the university’s expectations for licensed merchandisers, which “prohibit sweatshop conditions.”
“I always want to stay optimistic,” David said. “I really do hope that they’re going to meet with us and that they’re going to come to the table about what can be done to help pay these workers.”
Aashna Miharia contributed reporting.
Contact Sidney Snider at [email protected].
