Group Accuses Nike of Vietnam Abuses

Teen-age girls paid 20 cents an hour to make $180 Nike sneakers are worked to exhaustion and fondled by their supervisors at Vietnam factories, a labor activist said. “Supervisors humiliate women, force them to kneel, to stand in the hot sun, treating them like recruits in boot camp,” said Thuyen Nguyen, founder of Vietnam Labor Watch. Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike Inc. said it suspended one plant manager for forcing women to run laps. The company said it is investigating reports on the other conditions.