UW-Madison's Labor Licensing Policy Committee took another step toward receiving worker wage disclosure from major suppliers to the university, meeting at Bascom Hall Friday to discuss future plans following Chancellor John Wiley's approval of the project.
The main goals of the meeting included reviewing a list of the 10 major suppliers to UW-Madison and editing a letter that requests the suppliers to reveal information on wage disclosure by July 14. These manufacturers include EA Sports, Adidas, Champion and 4004 Incorporated, one of the main suppliers to Steve & Barry's, 636 State St.
\We're saying to the top 10 that we'll be asking them to provide this data,"" said LaMarr Billups, convener of the committee and special assistant to the chancellor. ""We believe they have the capacity to get this done,"" he said.
In addition to the efforts made for UW-Madison, the LLPC has also encouraged other universities to push for their licensees to agree to wage disclosure as well. Associates include Michigan and Indiana universities, as well as Georgetown University.
""The fact that we're taking this initial step will help push them,"" said Liana Dalton, UW-Madison sophomore and LLPC member.
Among the issues to be addressed on equality of wages are discrepancies between payment methods, with some workers paid by hour and others by quantity produced. Additionally, several companies provide benefits to workers that replace higher wages, making it difficult to compute a balance for each individual benefit.
""This is where some of the abuses occur,"" said Jonathan Rosenblum, honorary associate of the UW-Madison Law School who attended the meeting. ""Some of these increments become so complicated for our process to ensure appropriately.""
Despite these obstacles, committee members concurred that the process is moving along smoothly.
""I think it's some good, positive steps,"" said Billups. ""We're certainly going to follow through with everything we've done.\
