A group of Adidas employees is asking the company to investigate the chief human resources officer due to ‘racial inequality’. This comes after the major companies have come under fire to fix the broken system.
What We Know:
- On June 15th, a letter was sent containing 83 employees signatures from offices in the United States, Australia, Panama, and Germany to three Adidas executives.
- In the letter, that was exclusively obtained by CNN, Adidas employees wanted an ‘anonymous’ platform to better express themselves on delicate topics such as, racism, discrimination, and protection against retaliation.
- Twitter members took it upon themselves to say the following:
Anything for press… at the expense of politics and current events. That’s enough already!
— Simone🇺🇸 (@LkDeS3) June 17, 2020
This is laughable. Social justice is a performance art at this point. They’re just soviets trying to execute the first person who stops clapping after the dear leader speaks.
— Talk big and carry a little stick (@YoungMillennia4) June 17, 2020
- The negative feedback from some users says that some companies are using this movement as a PR one in order to look ”good” to society.
- The letter, later on, mentioned how they have “courageously raised their voices to people in positions of power; they have called out the fact that we are not representative of the communities we profit from and we lack the leadership, processes, and goals that will enable us to get there”.
- The multi-million dollar company made a statement saying that they are “working with a third-party investigator to ensure this policy is upheld”.
- Longtime employee HR Chief Karen Parkin has not commented on the letter but the company explained how she is working with other employees to embrace global diversity and inclusion commitments.
- Meanwhile, the protests regarding police brutality and systemic racism have been going strong around the globe. The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have sparked outrage and have shedded light on the broken justice system.
- The letter comes just before the brand had published on Twitter their plans on fighting systemic racism.
It’s time to own up to our silence: Black Lives Matter.
Here is how we are committing to change across People, Communities, and Accountability – effective immediately:
— adidas (@adidas) June 10, 2020
Their promise revolves around the hiring process and committing to 30% (internal and external) spots being filled with Black and Latino talent as well as 50% of the staff will be filled with diverse talent.
