Catherwood LibraryILR School

After facing pressure from United Students Against Sweatshops and universities with licensing agreements, Nike announced on Monday that it was setting up a $1.54 million fund to help the 1,800 Honduran workers who lost their jobs at two plants owned by subcontractors. The protests against Nike came after the Worker Rights Consortium, a group of universities that monitors factories in which college apparel is made, sent a report to the member universities showing that the Nike subcontractors had failed to pay over $2 million in severance. The company's statement said that they stood by their policy of subcontractors alone being responsible for the severance of the workers, but that they were going to help those workers affected by the plant closings. Representatives from United Students Against Sweatshops say that the company does have a responsibility to the workers, and that they are glad that the company is doing something for them.