Tell Nike: Pay the workers of Violet Apparel

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While big fashion brands like Nike continue to make huge profits during COVID-19, the women who make their clothes are wearing the cost.  

Even before the pandemic began, brands paid low wages. 

A year into the crisis, Nike has cashed in billions in profit, while garment workers and their families are going hungry as they bear the brunt of job losses.

Over 1,200 Cambodian Violet Apparel garment workers, who made Nike clothes, have been protesting over unpaid wages and benefits after the factory suspended its workers in May 2020, before suddenly announcing it would close permanently on 1 July.

We call on Nike to step up and support the women who make their clothes through this crisis by:
✔️ Paying for all orders during the pandemic
✔️ Paying 10 cents more per garment into a crisis fund so garment workers have access to wages and benefits, including severance pay
✔️ Protecting workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively.

Click the button to sign the petition today!

How your signature will make a difference

How big is the issue?

Over 1,200 garment workers lost their jobs – the majority of them women – when Cambodian garment factory Violet Apparel closed down last year. Violet Apparel made Nike products. A year later, workers are still demanding unpaid wages, benefits and severance payments, while Nike refuses to take responsibility for the workers who make their clothes.

What are we asking?

As part of the #PayYourWorkers campaign, over 200 organisations, including ActionAid Australia, have come together to demand that big fashion brands like Nike take action so garment workers do not have to face this crisis alone. Will you demand Nike pay the workers who make their clothes?

What is the impact?

Pressure from people like you is critical and it works. In the past, workers and labour rights organisations campaigned for a year and pushed Nike to pay nearly 2,000 workers over US$1.5 million in severance – the payout you’re legally entitled to when your job is terminated.

What is Violet Apparel?

Nike claims that the brand ended its relationship with Violet Apparel in 2016. But documents forwarded by the Cambodian Alliance for Trade Unions to Nike show evidence of subcontracting – including photographs of order forms and signatures from management of both factories – by Nike supplier, Olive Apparel.

Nike’s own Code of Conduct states that suppliers are required to pay ‘severance when employment ends’. Nike recorded a staggering profit of US$1.4 billion from December 2020 – March 2021.

Nike must take responsibility and compensate the workers who make their profits.

Demand that Nike respect women's rights and pays their workers!

We call on Nike to step up and support the women who make their clothes through this crisis by:
✔️ Paying for all orders during the pandemic
✔️ Paying 10 cents more per garment into a crisis fund so garment workers have access to wages and benefits, including severance pay
✔️ Protecting workers’ right to organise and bargain collectively.

Click the button below to sign the petition today!

Sign the Petition