"Nike has profited from our hard work for many years. Now we are having to borrow money to support ourselves and our families" - Ida Mustari (above) Photo: Berne Declaration.

Ida's story

This is Ida Mustari. She worked for nine years in the Doson factory in Indonesia, making Nike sport shoes.

Like most people who make our sports gear, Ida was not paid enough to meet her family's basic needs. Her wages were less than $US3 per day. Even though Ida and her husband both worked full-time plus a lot of overtime, they still could not afford to pay for child-care.

They had to send their two children to live with Ida's parents, two days travel from the factory. Ida could only get time off to see her children once each year.

In September 2002 Nike stopped ordering from the factory and it shut down, putting Ida and 7,000 other workers out of a job. The factory had been producing for Nike for 11 years.

The workers suspect Nike cut its orders because they had held a short strike for better pay. They suspect Nike has moved orders to factories in countries where independent unions are illegal.

The owner of the factory is only willing to pay them half the severance pay they should receive under Indonesian law. He says that is all he can afford.

Nike insists it has no responsibility to pay the Doson workers the rest of what they are owed. Nike has offered them some access to health care and retraining, but this falls well short of what they are legally entitled to receive.

Next: The Background