BY STEVEN SANDOR
A protest from a group of public school janitors has spurred the Edmonton Public School Board to investigate the possibility of washing its hands of a program sponsored by Nike and the Edmonton Oilers.
Last week, trustees voted 5-4 to hold a public hearing on the NIKE issue.
The program, which encourages inner-city kids to participate in street hockey, began last month with the cooperation of EPS. Nike, the world's largest athletic footwear company, bankrolls the program. Oilers stars show up when the kids play to offer instruction and encouragement.
But, soon after the EPS agreed to be a part of the program, their janitors, members of CUPE, protested. CUPE has long been supporting a Canadian Federation of Labour boycott of Nike products.
The boycotts stem from allegations of severe mistreatment and abuse of workers at Nike's Asian plants in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
The school board will hold a public hearing in January to decide if it wants to pull the plug on Nike.
Trustee Gerry Gibeault introduced the motion to examine Nike's practices.
"All of this information is new to the board. None of us were aware that there was an international Boycott Nike Campaign going on when we first approved the project," says Gibeault. "If the things being alleged about Nike are actually the case, I don't believe that it represents the values of our community."
CUPE political action chair Eugene Plawiuk says that the union has been lobbying Nike to change its policies for two years. He accused the company of using terror tactics, military intervention and intimidation on its Asian staff, who handle all of the company's production (not one Nike product is made in the United States).
Nike hired management firm Ernst & Young to audit its operations last year. Plawiuk says that's not good enough.
"They were just a hired gun. It's a management firm--what we want is independent monitoring of Nike's plants. Not a system where the factory managers are warned well in advance."
Plawiuk said CUPE wants to encourage positive change in the shoe industry.
"They are all a bad bunch. Nike is the biggest--and if we can force the biggest firm to change, the others will follow."
The Oilers have asked the Alberta Federation of Labor for more information.