UM group still hot under the collar for sweatshop-free apparel

After promotion by student groups and a unanimous resolution from ASUM, students are waiting for the administration’s approval to affiliate the University of Montana with the Worker Rights Consortium. 

The Worker Rights Consortium, or WRC, visits clothing factories on behalf of schools around the nation, inspecting working conditions and employment policies to ensure that clothing is not being made in sweatshops.

Griz apparel is made in about 150 factories across the globe, according to UM student group Students for Economic and Social Justice.

The student group has been pushing for the partnership throughout the semester.

“We’re calling on the administration to affiliate with the WRC and adopt their Designated Supplier Program,” said SESJ member Sam Schabacker.

Schabacker said this is a way to combine the theories of human rights and equality students learn in classes with the practice of enforcing those rights in the University’s business choices.

Cost of the affiliation would be one percent of the University’s total gross revenue from apparel sales. Calculated from 2004 sales, the most recent data available, it would add up to about $2,400 per year to ensure that workers who sew Griz-wear are fairly paid, allowed breaks and humane working conditions.

ASUM President Andrea Helling said voting in favor of the resolution was a simple decision.

“A university, institutions of higher education, are designed to prepare students to become good citizens of the world. And you can’t start that if your education is being subsidized on the backs of people halfway around the world,” Helling said.

UM President George Dennison said yesterday that he is expecting a report on this issue from the Collegiate Licensing Board by next month.

“I just need to know a little bit more,” he said.

Dennison said some of his concerns are the cost of the service and whether or not the University already pays for that service through an existing agreement.

Schabacker disagrees on this point, saying, “We’re not affiliated with any monitoring system right now.“

Of the approximately 150 factories that produce Griz apparel, at least two have already been investigated through WRC’s other partnerships. Korean-owned PT Dada in Indonesia is one of those factories investigated, and has been cited for a number of violations including not allowing women to take the maternity leave mandated by Indonesian law.

Flipping through the pages of UM’s apparel sources, Schabacker said he wants to know how many more are guilty of similar violations.

Schabacker said he’s still not sure whether the administration will support their campaign, despite the ASUM resolution.

“It was important because it’s symbolic with the student population, but these resolutions are not binding,” Shabacker said.

As another way to promote the partnership, SESJ members carried a birthday cake and balloons to administration headquarters in Main Hall yesterday to symbolize the WRC’s creation date.

Schabacker said there’s been some debate among the student group and the administration about the differences between the WRC and the Fair Labor Association (FLA), however, the University has associations with neither. 

Though they’ve had two meetings with administrators this semester, SESJ has yet to successfully arrange a meeting to discuss the affiliation following the ASUM resolution.

“If this was truly a priority of the University of Montana, they would find time to meet with us for 45 minutes,” Schabacker said.

Schabacker and SESJ support the WRC more than the FLA because of its transparency, its members and its investigative methods.

While the FLA executes pre-announced factory investigations, Schabacker said, WRC visits are unannounced. The FLA also approves the factories of an entire corporation after viewing just a few sites, while the WRC approves on a site-by-site basis. The SESJ feels that these differences, and the fact that the WRC makes all of their reports publicly available, make the consortium a better option.

“I think it’d be a really progressive step forward for the University of Montana,” said ASUM senator Tara Ness, a SESJ member and author of the resolution. “And it’s cost efficient.”

More than 150 universities and four high schools are affiliated with the WRC.

The attempt to affiliate UM with the WRC is the SESJ’s second large campaign since its formation last spring.

SESJ, which now has a core of 15 to 25 active members and a list serve of about 120, was first established to tackle disagreements concerning UM’s contract with the Coca-Cola corporation. SESJ successfully urged UM to adopt a purchasing code of conduct, which set standards of factory and work conditions for vendors that UM purchases from.

“It’s one of only two things that you need to affiliate with the WRC,” Schabacker said of the recently adopted code of conduct. The second requirement is an official acceptance of the affiliation from the administration.