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NEWSLETTER 13, NOVEMBER 2000
North American Students Organizing Against
Sweatshops
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In North America universities profit from global sweatshop
labor through the $2.5 billion collegiate licensing industry.
If you are a university student in the United States or
Canada sweatshirts, t-shirts, jerseys and baseball caps
with your school's name or that of the school's athletic
team may be made in sweatshops. The labor union UNITE found
that caps made for Georgetown, UCLA, USC and other universities
were being produced in a factory in the Dominican Republic
where workers got 8¢ for each cap they made. Meanwhile
the cap retails for $19.95, and the university makes $1.50
or more on each cap -- at least 20 times what each worker
makes. The base pay for a typical worker is 69¢ per
hour -- only one-third of what the Dominican government
says is necessary for a family to meet their basic needs.
In addition to poverty wages, UNITE found forced overtime,
wage discrimination against women, no safe drinking water
and dangerous working conditions.
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In March 1998, Duke Students Against Sweatshops announced an historic
agreement. Duke University adopted the nation's first Code of Conduct
for University Trademark Licensees--making sweatshirts, caps and
other gear with the Duke logo subject to labor and human rights
standards. Brown, Notre Dame and other universities soon developed
their own codes. Today, student groups across the U.S. and Canada
are raising awareness on campus, pressuring their administrations
for strong codes of conduct, and supporting anti-sweatshop struggles.
Through United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), a U.S. coalition
of students from campuses across the country founded in July 1998,
and Students Against Sweatshops-Canada, formed in February 1999,
students are working to link and coordinate the student campaigns
of individual campuses, and to foster cooperation between universities
in enforcing codes of conduct. Participants active in the coalitions
have staged rallies and demonstrations, sit-ins and conferences
to further their demand that clothing with their school's logos
are made in decent working conditions.
Not only did the North American student movement take up the issue
of labour standards in the garment industry, but they also looked
into ideas on how to tackle the issue of compliance with codes of
conduct. In consultation with workers and human rights groups USAS
developed the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC).
The WRC is a non-profit organization that supports and verifies
licensee compliance with production codes of conduct. WRC is developing
a network of local organizations in regions where licensed goods
are produced. This network will allow the WRC to inform workers
of their rights under applicable codes of conduct and will allow
workers to report conditions securely and confidentially.
The WRC will operate as a system to verify and inspect conditions
in factories producing apparel for colleges and universities. As
of late June 2000, 57 colleges and universities had joined the consortium.
Under the WRC, it is the responsibility of licensees to ensure their
compliance with the Code of Conduct. By joining the WRC, universities
and colleges commit to the implementation of broad public disclosure
(of information on wages, working hours, health and safety conditions,
and local citations) and a mechanism to verify information received
through disclosure and worker complaints. Participants will set
up the WRC Agency, operating independently of industry representatives
and university licensing offices. The Agency will receive and verify
worker complaints of abuses and violations of the WRC Code of Conduct.
It also will work with worker-allied groups in sourcing areas to
establish the system to receive complaints and to verify them. Given
the incredible scope of the apparel industry, the WRC does not provide
for the certification of factories or companies. Rather, the WRC
seeks to open up conditions in the apparel industry to public scrutiny
and respond to the needs of the workers sewing licensed products
for institutions of higher education. Members of USAS believe that
the WRC will force information regarding industry practices out
into the light of day and pressure firms to improve conditions in
factories producing their goods.
(source: Sweatshop Watch, USAS and WRC)
USAS is now a coalition of more than 180 student groups.
To learn more about their activities, see:
Sweatshop Watch is a coalition in the United States, made up of
labor, community, civil rights, immigrant rights, women's, religious
& student organizations, and individuals committed to eliminating
sweatshop conditions in the global garment industry. Their website
includes a Model Code of Conduct for University Trademark Licensees.
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