Nike workers in Indonesia have won nearly a million dollars in back wages with the help of an NGO called Team Sweat. The Jakarta Post profiles Jim Keady, the 40-year-old American who runs the non-profit.

Keady was a semi-pro soccer player studying theology at New York Univeristy when his school started negotiating a $3.5 million sponsorship agreement with Nike:

Believing that Nike’s corporate practices were far from his Catholic religious ideals, he lobbied school officials to reject the contract until he was eventually given an ultimatum: “Wear Nike and drop the issue or get out.”

He said he became the first athlete in the world to say no to Nike because of the sweatshop issue.

Team Sweat is currently grappling with the issue of jam molor or forced overtime. Keady is working on a book and a script for documentary about his work in Indonesia.

[Photo credit: edtrigger, Creative Commons.]