Members of the Student Labor Action Coalition gathered with cell phones on Library Mall Monday afternoon and flooded UW-Madison licensees with calls demanding they disclose their workers' wages.
Targeting the top three companies that make products with UW logos-Adidas, 4004 Incorporated and Gear for Sports-SLAC called representatives of the corporations, stepping up the pressure to respond to letters from UW-Madison requiring these companies to agree to disclosure by a May 1 deadline.
\The ultimate goal of disclosing wages is to make [corporations] accountable to minimum wage laws and to make that information publicly transparent if there is a big discrepancy between actual and reported wages,"" SLAC member and UW-Madison sophomore Ross Reykdal said.
The university Labor Licensing Policy Committee, comprised of administrators and students, stated the corporations should have a plan detailing how they would disclose their workers' wages in the future by May 1. Letters demanding the wage disclosures were mailed out the second week in March. While SLAC members said they view this as enough time to make a response, others disagreed.
Cindy Van Matre, UW-Madison's trademark licensing director, said she thinks action on wage disclosure is a massive undertaking and ordering a May 1 deadline on the companies was unrealistic.
However, Reykdal said there is a later August 1 deadline to implement wage disclosure.
Currently, Adidas has begun negotiations with UW-Madison, while Gear for Sports has refused any negotiation and other companies have not responded at all. However, one of the top ten companies, Top of the World, has agreed to wage disclosure.
Because many of the workers are abroad and the companies do not actually own the factories where their products are made, corporations have claimed in the past that they are not responsible for the workers wages, according to SLAC member and UW-Madison sophomore Ruth Castel-Branco. Monday's movement was aimed at making them accountable.
Many students at universities, like UW-Madison, wear apparel made by these companies. Castel-Branco said students possess the power of numbers over the companies if they learn where their university clothing is made and are dissatisfied with the worker conditions.
""Corporations function on brand names and labels; they don't want a bad reputation associated with their labels. That is what gives the consumer leverage. That's what gives us in the U.S. leverage because we are the main consumers,"" Castel-Branco said.
The university and SLAC have been working together, negotiating with the companies since Chancellor Wiley began backing the movement in January.
""I think it's great that SLAC does the jobs that students aren't even aware of,"" said UW-Madison sophomore Emily Wallrath.
Until the August deadline, SLAC plans to continue placing pressure on the companies.
