By Matthew Kish
oregonlive.com
(TNS)
Oregon teachers and Asian garment workers have launched a campaign demanding Nike pay higher state taxes and better factory wages.
“We’re done with you making billions off our backs,” says a Sri Lankan garment worker in a roughly 90-second video posted on social media that demands a contract with Nike for “fair wages and fully funded schools.”
The campaign’s organizers include the Portland Association of Teachers, Global Labor Justice, Asia Floor Wage Alliance and Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation.
On Friday, the Oregon Education Association’s Representative Assembly, which has roughly 1,000 members, most of them teachers, voted to back the campaign. The OEA is the state’s largest union for public education employees. It has 42,000 members.
The groups want Nike to pay the state $2 billion, which they estimate is what the company has saved through a 30-year tax deal it secured in 2012, according to a document an organizer shared with The Oregonian/OregonLive. They want the money to be earmarked for public education.
“For years Nike has evaded taxes here in Oregon,” said Alisha Chavez, vice president and incoming president of the Portland Association of Teachers. “We are wanting them to pay their fair share. Them not paying their fair share is part of the reason that Oregon students are not getting the schools that they deserve.”
Chavez noted the “dire financial constraints” of local public schools, citing examples including furlough days, layoffs and $50 million in upcoming budget cuts.
“We’re being told by the state there’s no money for what we need,” she said.
Nike called the $2 billion estimate “inaccurate” and a “gross misrepresentation of reality” and defended its track record for supporting education and the economic wellbeing of factory workers.
“Nike has made Oregon its home for over fifty years,” the company said in a statement. “We comply with the tax rules and reporting obligations in every jurisdiction in which we operate but, as a global marketplace leader, we are especially mindful of the important role we play at home where we employ thousands of Oregonians and annually invest millions into the local community.”
Nike’s most recent economic impact report, which the company paid ECOnorthwest to produce in 2012, found Nike fueled $2.5 billion in annual economic activity in Oregon, including spending on wages, goods, services and buildings, as well as the multiplier effects of that spending. Nike’s revenue has roughly doubled since then. Nike also ranked No. 1 on the Portland Business Journal’s 2025 list of the most generous large companies in Oregon, with $13.4 million in annual gifts to the state’s charities.
“We are proud of our long-term partnerships and investment in the state, fueled by multi-million-dollar investments and employee volunteerism, to serve our community in partnership with local organizations,” Nike said in the statement.
The $2 billion tax savings estimate is from a 2013 report published by Good Jobs First. A Good Jobs First spokesperson did not return a message about the methodology of the calculation, which is not included in the report.
Since 2005, Oregon has taxed corporate income based on sales in the state. The so-called “single sales factor” calculation does not factor in property values or payroll costs. The formula likely saves companies like Nike and Intel—which have massive real estate footprints and thousands of local employees—tens of millions of dollars. But it’s not possible to calculate the savings because Oregon, like other states, doesn’t require corporate tax disclosure.
In December 2012, Oregon lawmakers convened for a one-day special session and approved a deal that guaranteed Nike’s state income taxes would continue to be calculated based solely on Oregon sales for 30 years. The agreement required that Nike hire 500 workers and spend $150 million on capital improvements. Nike met both requirements.
A Nike spokesperson noted the 2012 deal hasn’t given the company any additional tax benefits. All it did was require the state continue taxing Nike under the same formula that went into effect for all Oregon companies in 2005, a methodology that hasn’t changed. Intel later got a similar deal.
Given that continuity, it’s unclear how Good Jobs First came up with its $2 billion estimate.
In fact, since Oregon moved to taxing income based on in-state sales, annual revenue from corporate income taxes and excise taxes has increased from around $320 million to roughly $1.5 billion, according to Oregon’s Department of Revenue. The nearly fivefold increase in overall receipts could be explained by out-of-state companies who don’t have property or employees in Oregon paying higher taxes.
“It’s not clear to what extent, if any,” the switch to single sales played in the increase in corporate taxes, said Chris Allanach, head of the state’s Legislative Revenue Office, in an email.
Most of Nike’s nearly 1.2 million workers in roughly 700 contract factories are in low-wage Asian countries. The campaign also seeks an agreement with Nike to pay higher wages and support the collective bargaining rights of the unionized workers in those factories.
Each Nike contract factory is required to sign a code of conduct that acknowledges workers “have a right to compensation for a regular work week sufficient to meet their basic needs and provide discretionary income.”
“Our goal is that all people involved in the manufacturing of Nike’s products are respected, valued, and treated fairly,” Nike said in its statement. “While progress is not perfect or linear, we are proud of the steps we’ve taken to push for systemic improvements across the industry over time.”
Nike also has said workers at “strategic” suppliers are paid, on average, 1.9 times the local minimum wage.
As part of an ongoing reporting partnership, reporters from ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive visited Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam last year and spoke with people who work in Nike’s contract factories. Each is a major Nike manufacturing hub.
In April 2025, a ProPublica investigation found that 1% of factory workers at one former Nike supplier in Cambodia earned double the minimum wage. In Indonesia, The Oregonian/OregonLive last year spoke with roughly 100 workers. All said they made minimum wage or a little bit more.
“Nike has been connected to global manufacturing since its earliest days and we have built a track record of learning and continuous improvement,” Michael Gonda, Nike’s chief communications officer, said in a subsequent letter to the editor. “We were the first in our industry to publish supplier data, we continue to voluntarily disclose wage data today, and we are open about both progress and the work still ahead.”
In March, ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive reported on Nike’s manufacturing shift into Central Java, where wages are typically around $165 a month and lower than what’s considered enough to live on.
“Growth and progress go hand in hand and we remain committed to investing in ways that expand opportunity while strengthening labor standards and worker protections where we operate worldwide,” Nike said in response to the reporting.
Last year, Global Labor Justice and the Asia Floor Wage Alliance visited Oregon with three Indonesian factory workers who make Nike products.
The workers visited Nike’s Portland store and filed a wage complaint with Oregon’s labor commissioner.
Chavez and others from the Portland Association of Teachers joined the group when the workers went to Nike’s headquarters and unsuccessfully tried to get a meeting with company officials.
“We were really saddened by what they experienced,” Chavez said. “Hearing what they experienced overseas and knowing what we experience in Oregon and in our classrooms, we saw the clear connection between our work and their work.”
Photo credit: winhorse/iStock
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©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Tags: education, factory workers, Nike, Oregon, public schools, state taxes, Taxes, wages
