We got a look at the 32-page internal deck Adidas workers used to pressure leadership to rally against racism. Here's what it said and why employees say the response fell short.

• A coalition of Adidas employees representing workers from North America and Germany sent a 32-page deck to North American leadership on June 2.
• The deck, titled "Our State of Emergency," outlined a series of requests from the company to recognize and respond to racial injustice, with hard deadlines for each.
• Following the submission of the deck, Adidas leadership announced a three-step plan for change from the company on Tuesday.

A movement is brewing at Adidas. Frustrated employees are publicly speaking up about what they describe as an uncomfortable and unsafe environment for people of color at the athletic-wear giant and a lackluster response to the current situation in the US.

In response to protests and movements surrounding George Floyd's killing, Adidas responded publicly by issuing a statement on its Instagram account on May 30 and retweeting an advertisement put out by Nike.

Some Adidas employees, frustrated with the brand's response and lingering internal issues at the company, have been protesting since Friday. This movement is led by Julia Bond, an assistant designer for Adidas Originals apparel who has worked full time at the company for about a year. The protests are an effort to prompt Adidas to make internal and external changes to support Black employees and the Black community at large.

Bond and others have sent emails to Adidas leadership regarding the brand's response to the state of affairs in the country as well as internal issues within Adidas.

"My existence at this brand is praised as diversity and inclusion, but when I look around I see no one above or around that looks like me," Bond wrote in a June 3 email to Adidas' North American leadership, which she shared with Business Insider. "I can no longer stand for Adidas' consistent complacency in taking active steps against a racist work environment."

Inside the internal deck sent to leadership

Footwear News first reported on the unrest at Adidas, which also involved the creation of a 13-member coalition representing over 100 employees from the company's North American and German headquarters.

On June 2, the coalition sent a 32-page deck to North American leadership titled "Our State of Emergency," which outlined a series of requests from the company to recognize and respond to racial injustices, with hard deadlines for each.

"We have the ability to change the course of history, our industry and our brand for generations," the deck, which was shared with Business Insider, said.

Four demands, or "asks," were outlined in the document with various subsections. These asks include:

• Invest in Black employees.
• Invest in Black communities.
• Invest in the fight for racial justice and change for Black people.
• Be accountable.

The document gave timelines for certain asks as well. For example, the document requested a 31% representation of Black and Latinx people at every level of the company by December 31 and an end to the limiting of career advancement for Black employees immediately. The New York Times previously reported that fewer than 4.5% of the 1,700 Adidas employees at the Portland, Oregon, campus identified as black, according to internal employments figures from last summer. The deck also asked for an internal announcement of commitment to the requests by June 5 and a global media announcement by June 19.

Employees are speaking out

Adjacent to the coalition, other employees have shared similar stories of their experiences at Adidas on social media. Aaron Ture, a project manager at Reebok, which is owned by Adidas, posted his experience with racism at Adidas on Instagram and sent a letter to management on June 5 outlining his frustration with the company.

"We are an organization that exploits minorities, black, queer and so many others for commercial profit, without aiming to empower them at the workspace and in their own communities," Ture wrote in the letter, which was viewed by Business Insider. Ture, who is not specifically involved in the coalition, said all the movements have been working alongside one another in pursuit of the same goal.

On Sunday, an Adidas employee named Aric Armon took to Instagram to share the story of what he described as a white colleague calling him a version of the N-word.

"They choose not to recognize the severity of their inward culture and how it reflects outwardly," Bond told Business Insider in an interview, in which she described an experience in the early months of her tenure at Adidas that involved a Confederate flag T-shirt design getting approved and sent to her team for inspiration.

Bond, who said she is the lone Black employee on her team, said she wanted a public apology from Adidas and an acknowledgment of the company's problematic systems and culture that hurt Black employees.

After the submission of the deck, Adidas leadership on Tuesday announced a three-step plan for change from the company. The brand committed to a $20 million investment into Black American communities over the next four years and outlined investments in university scholarships for Black employees and a commitment to filling 30% of all new positions in the US with Black and Latinx people.

To Bond and Ture, the announcement was disappointing.

"You're just treating the symptoms," Bond said. " You're not treating the actual disease."

If you're an Adidas or other athletic-wear employee with a story to share, email sciment@businessinsider.com, or contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (646) 376-6018 using a nonwork phone.