Following protests from university students, Nike has entered into a new partnership with a human rights watchdog group that provides more transparency on conditions at factories where its products are made. The partnership with the Worker Rights Consortium comes via Nike's new deal with Georgetown University, the Huffington Post reports.
Georgetown, a longtime Swoosh school, let its Nike deal expire at the end of 2016 as student groups raised issues over labor conditions at overseas sportswear factories, specifically at the Hansae factory in Vietnam. While Nike doesn't actually own any factories in Asia, it contracts over a million workers worldwide to make its products.
Nike's new deal to produce Georgetown's official apparel was signed on Friday.
The new contract allows the WRC to interview factory workers producing Nike apparel for Georgetown should allegations of labor abuses arise.
"Under the terms of the protocol, Nike will facilitate access to its collegiate supplier factories for the WRC to investigate working conditions, in our role as a monitor for universities and colleges," said the WRC via a press release quoted at the Georgetown Voice. "The protocol will also facilitate the WRC’s work with Nike, when violations are identified, to achieve remediation."
