Workers that make Nike's Converse shoes at the Sukabumi factory in Indonesia say they are being physically and mentally abused. Workers say supervisors frequently throw shoes at them, slap them in the face, kick them and call them dogs and pigs. Nike admits that such abuse has occurred among the contractors that make its sneakers but says there was little it could do to stop it.

"We're powerless," 

said the woman, who like several others interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals.

"Our only choice is to stay and suffer, or speak out and be fired."

At the PT Amara Footwear factory located just outside Jakarta, where another Taiwanese contractor makes Converse shoes, a supervisor ordered six female workers to stand in the blazing sun after they failed to meet their target of completing 60 dozen pairs of shoes on time. The 10,000 mostly female workers at the Taiwanese-operated Pou Chen plant make around 50 cents an hour.

"They were crying and allowed to continue their job only after two hours under the sun,"

said Ujang Suhendi, 47, a worker at a warehouse in the factory.

The women's supervisor received a warning letter for the May incident after complaints from unionized workers. Nike's own inquiries found workers at the two factories were subjected to 'serious and egregious' physical and verbal abuse, including the punishment of forcing workers to stand in the sun, said Hannah Jones, a Nike executive who oversees the company's efforts to improve working conditions.

An internal report Nike released to the AP shows that nearly two-thirds of 168 factories making Converse products worldwide fail to meet Nike's own standards for contract manufacturers.