Friday, April 18, 2008

Sweat-Free Campaign Timeline and Facts

Sweat-Free Campaign Timeline and Facts

Students for Economic and Social Justice (SESJ), a student group at the University of Montana has been working for almost 2 years to ensure sweatshop-free Griz apparel. A major victory came last spring when UM affiliated with the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), which does independent monitoring of factories producing collegiate apparel. This is not enough! The university needs to sign-on to the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) as an enforcement mechanism for the WRC and our purchasing code of conduct.

SESJ works with the national group United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) on the DSP campaign. USAS has a long history of student activism with impressive results. Sit-ins at Duke, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Michigan in 1999-2000 created the WRC. Sit-ins in 2006 at the University of California Riverside and the University of California Berkeley resulted in all of the University of California schools signing the DSP!

Why is the DSP Necessary?

The DSP in necessary to truly raise working standards for those making collegiate apparel, especially to ensure the right to organize democratic unions.

At the BJ&B factory in the Dominican Republic, workers unionized in 2003. This was the first unionized garment factory in the Dominican Republic. Last spring, workers were fired off and the factory closed because brands such as Nike and Adidas didn’t want to pay the higher wages to the union. The DSP will keep this from happening: As part of the program brands must pay a living wage and allow workers the right to organize!
In spring 2007 workers at the New Era baseball cap factory in Mobile, Alabama started organizing a union and were met with strong anti-union sentiment and layoffs. Because of pressure from the WRC and universities, New Era gave in to worker demands, a union was formed, and all laid-off employees were re-hired. The workers at New Era strongly support the DSP because they know it means universities are demanding higher wages and the right to organize for all workers making collegiate apparel!
The DSP will mean a fundamental shift in industry norms. Instead of suppressing unions, harassing workers, and firing employees, the dignified treatment of workers will be upheld as the primary goal!

Please help the University of Montana join these 42 schools in adopting the DSP:

Brandeis University, Brown University , California State University, Fullerton, Columbia University, Cornell University , DePaul University Duke University, Fordham University , Georgetown University , Grand Valley State University , Hamilton College , Indiana University , Marquette University, Oberlin College , Regis University , Santa Clara University , Seattle University, Skidmore College , Smith College , Syracuse University University at Albany, The State University of New York , The University of California- Berkeley , The University of California,-Davis, The University of California,-Irvine, The University of California- Los Angeles, The University of California,-Merced, The University of California- Riverside , The University of California,-San Diego, The University of California-San Francisco, The University of California-Santa Barbara, The University of California-Santa Cruz The University of Colorado at Boulder, The University of Connecticut, The University of Iowa, The University of Maine – Farmington, The University of Miami, The University of Washington, The University of Wisconsin – Madison, Ursinus College, Washington State University, Western Washington University

Sources: workersrights.org, studentsagainstsweatshops.org

1 comment:

Kenji said...

Keep up the awesome work! I hope your sit-in convinced your administration!

In solidarity,
Kenji (Humboldt State University Chapter, check us out at http://stopsweatshops.blogspot.com)