Nike Manager Guilty Of Abusing Workers

A floor manager at a Taiwanese-owned factory that makes shoes for Nike was sentenced Friday to six months in prison for physically abusing workers.

The Dong Nai Provincial People’s Court found the manager, 27-year-old Hsu Chinyun, guilty of mistreating workers at Nike subcontractor Pou Chen Company in Dong Nai.

Capitalizing on Vietnam’s low labor costs, Nike has five manufacturing plants here but has run into a whirlwind of bad publicity over conditions.

Hsu was accused of making 56 female workers at the Nike plant run laps as punishment for not wearing regulation shoes, according to labor rights activist Thuyen Nguyen.

At least 12 of the women fainted and were hospitalized.