Joint Statement Labor Union in the TGSL Sector in Indonesian: Holding Global Brands Accountable: Same Wages for the Same Brands Across the Supply Chain of Nike, Adidas, and All Global Brands in Indonesia.

Joint Statement Trade Unions/Labor Unions in the TGSL Sector in Indonesian: Holding Global Brands Accountable: Same Wages for the Same Brands Across the Supply Chain of Nike, Adidas, and All Global Brands in Indonesia.

  

Nike and Adidas are two of the world's largest sportswear brands, global symbols of performance, lifestyle, and victory. But behind that image lies a long and unequal global supply chain, largely supported by the labour of tens of millions of workers in countries in the Global South, including Indonesia.

Java Island is the production center of these two international brands, and indeed, of all international brands. Supplier factories for Nike, Adidas, and various other international brands are located in Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java. Dozens of supplier companies operate in these regions, employing hundreds of thousands of workers who perform daily work that demands high precision, physical endurance, and discipline. They cut materials, sew shoes and sportswear piece by piece, perform quality checks, and then package products for shipment to markets in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia, and other countries. This production process is governed by the same global standards—set directly by Nike and Adidas—with no significant differences between factories or regions.

However, this uniformity in work processes does not translate into uniform wages. Workers working for Nike, Adidas, and various other global brands in Banten and some cities/regencies in West Java receive relatively higher wages than workers in Central Java or Yogyakarta. Yet they produce the same products, with the same quality standards, for the same brands. This wage difference is not due to differences in skills or work risks, but rather a result of Indonesia's fragmented wage system based on region, as well as global supply chain strategies that consciously exploit these differences. In practice, Nike, Adidas, and various global brands can order products from factories in regions with lower wages without changing their selling prices on the global market. Workers are thus pitted against each other geographically.

Wage disparities between regions in Indonesia—where workers in the supply chains of Nike, Adidas, and various global brands in Central Java and Yogyakarta receive significantly lower wages than workers in Banten and West Java—must be interpreted as a form of structural injustice in the global supply chain. Yet the work performed by workers in these regions shares common characteristics: uniform production processes, global quality standards, equal work risks, and direct contributions to brand profits. Within the framework of Business and Human Rights, this practice can be categorized as a corporate failure to respect the principle of non-discrimination and the right to fair and favorable working conditions.

The business models of Nike, Adidas, and other global brands highlight this imbalance. Take Nike and Adidas, for example, which operate a factory-free production system, a model that allows them to control design, marketing, pricing, and production volume, while shifting operational risk to suppliers and workers. The brands set product prices, impose tight deadlines, and order volumes can fluctuate. Under these conditions, suppliers have little room to increase wages or improve working conditions, as any cost increase is perceived as a threat to the sustainability of their contracts with the brands. As a result, workers are the most vulnerable.

This uncertainty is further exacerbated by the widespread contract labor and outsourcing practices in Nike and Adidas supplier factories. Many workers work on short-term contracts, without long-term job security, adequate social protection, and with the ever-looming threat of layoffs. When orders decline or factories relocate to other regions offering lower wages, workers lose their jobs without adequate protection. Factory closures and production relocations are not isolated events, but rather part of a global supply chain dynamic that prioritizes cost efficiency over workers' livelihoods.

The experiences of workers during the Covid-19 pandemic are concrete evidence of the failure of corporate responsibility. When global orders were disrupted, many supplier factories in Indonesia implemented wage cuts, reduced working hours, and even mass layoffs. Workers bore the brunt of the crisis directly, while Nike, Adidas, and other global brands, despite their significant financial strength and significant profits in the following years, took no action to prevent wage cuts or ensure the sustainability of workers' livelihoods in their supply chains. From a Business and Human Rights perspective, this situation demonstrates the absence of effective human rights due diligence. Brands failed to anticipate the impact of the crisis on workers and failed to take adequate precautions.

Ironically, Nike and Adidas generate enormous profits. Both brands record annual revenues of tens of billions of dollars, with net profits in the billions. Labor wages contribute very little to the selling price of shoes or sportswear, often only a few percent. This means that even significant wage increases will not significantly impact product prices in the global market. However, the existing supply chain system chooses to maintain low wages as a business strategy, not out of unavoidable economic necessity, but rather because of structural choices that benefit the brands.

Therefore, the demand for "same wages for the same brands" is not only relevant and urgent but must also be understood as a human rights-based demand, not merely an economic one. This demand is not simply about equalizing wages across regions, but about recognizing the value of workers' work and the responsibility of global brands to the working conditions of workers throughout their supply chains. The demand for "same wages for the same brands" also emphasizes that Nike and Adidas, as global corporations, have a responsibility to ensure that workers in their supply chains receive fair and equal wages, regardless of their geographic location.

Ultimately, Nike and Adidas' supply chains in Indonesia reflect the global challenges of implementing Business and Human Rights. As long as brands continue to separate profit from responsibility, and as long as producing countries are allowed to compete through low wages, human rights violations will continue to occur in institutionalized forms. The workers' struggle for wage justice in Nike and Adidas' supply chains is not just a local struggle, but part of a global effort to ensure that international businesses operate in line with the principles of human rights and the dignity of work.

Based on all these facts and frameworks, we, the Trade Unions/Labor Unions that organize workers in the TGSL sector in Indonesia, urge and demand Nike, Adidas and all global brands in Indonesia to Implement the same Basic Wage for workers throughout the supply chain in Indonesia. As brand holders, as the main actors who control prices, contracts and production and others throughout the supply chain, it is very appropriate and necessary to apply the same basic wage standards in all supplier factories as a moral responsibility and implementation of Business and Human Rights principles. Furthermore:

1.       Expressing Willingness to Negotiate a Protocol on Job Security and Wage Protection.

2.       Ensuring the Protection of the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining as stipulated in the Freedom of Association Protocol signed by Nike, Adidas, and other international brands.

3.       Monitoring and ensuring that there are no wage-cutting practices throughout the supply chain of Nike, Adidas, and all international brands in Indonesia.

Apart from that, in this action we also urge the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, in this case the Ministry of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia to:

1.     Immediately call on brand owners to encourage negotiations (social dialogue) with trade unions in the TGSL sector in Indonesia to formulate and agree on the implementation of equal basic wages for workers in all supplier factories and their supply chains for international brands, "Same Wage for Same Brand," as a moral, social, legal, and human rights responsibility.

2.     Immediately eliminate discrimination and deep wage disparities between regions and industrial sectors (especially in the TGSL sector) by developing a fair wage system policy concept in collaboration with trade unions. This wage concept reflects the real cost of living, to maintain national economic stability, increase purchasing power, worker welfare, industrial sustainability, and national economic growth, as mandated by the 1945 Constitution. Wages are the primary source of livelihood for workers and their families. Therefore, higher wages can improve the welfare, empowerment, and advancement of the workforce, as well as sustainable industrial governance.

To win this demand, we invite and call on all workers and labor unions, especially in the TGSL sector, to unite and work together to urge suppliers and owners of international brands to implement equal wages for the same brands.

We hereby convey this statement to be a serious concern for Nike, Adidas and all international brands.

 

Jakarta, January 21, 2026

 

Signed by

GSBI, KASBI, KBMI, KSPI-MJH, KSBSI, SGBN, GOBSI, FSBPI, FSPTSK-KSPSI-MJH, PPMI, FSBISS, SBSI 92, FSBGTS, KSPN, FSPLEM-KSPSI MJH.