Dutch pension fund PFZW, with other investors, has submitted a proposal urging Nike to pay more attention to how the workers in their factories are treated.

The fund said that the proposal mainly concerned countries where there are many abuses in working conditions, such as Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Last year, PFZW called on Nike to pay back wages totalling $2.2m to 4,500 employees, however, this did not happen.

Given this, the fund said it is “sharpening” this year by calling for good working conditions in a broad sense.

It has also called on Nike to evaluate how they can give employees a role in improving working conditions and addressing abuses, such as exploitation or poor working conditions.

In this system, employees indicate what is going wrong in the workplace, and companies must act based on this input to solve the problems. It is therefore about more direct participation of employees in protecting their rights.

The fund said that 12.3 per cent of the shareholders supported this and although this was not enough, PFZW noted that it would continue to enter discussions with Nike in line with the requirements set.

PFZW said: “We are pleased that there is an increasing focus on human rights among investors.

“When we ask our participants what they think is important about sustainable investing, human rights are mentioned most often.

“One of the components of PFZW's human rights policy is the rights of workers. As an investor in Nike, PFZW is concerned about the fate of vulnerable employees at Nike's suppliers.

“We use our influence to move Nike to improve the rights of workers in the supply chain.”

European Pensions has contacted Nike for comment.

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