By Jan Van Tol
Student labor action coalition
Last week, UW Chancellor Biddy Martin announced her decision to terminate UW-Madison's Russell Athletics contract over worker rights violations in the apparel company's Jerzees de Honduras factory. The factory was the subject of an investigation by the Worker Rights Consortium, which confirmed that Russell's union-busting behavior clearly violated not only UW-Madison's Code of Conduct for apparel producers, but also Honduran law and internationally recognized labor standards.
Chancellor Martin made the right call.
After workers at the factory successfully formed a union and began to bargain for better wages and working conditions, factory management refused to negotiate in good faith, offering only a four-cent per day wage increase - absurd by any standard - before shutting down the factory. The WRC investigation found more than 100 separate incidents in which Russell managers told workers that the factory would close because of the union - not economic factors, as Russell executives now claim.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Just last spring, Russell fired more than 140 employees in an attempt to crush workers' efforts to form a union. It was only when several universities - UW-Madison among them - threatened contract cuts that Russell did the right thing and negotiated with the workers.
Although there is hope that the Jerzees de Honduras workers may yet win, the case of Adidas' Hermosa Manufacturing plant in El Salvador is an example where university Codes of Conduct failed to live up to their promise. In 2005, that factory was illegally shut down, leaving workers, who were owed over $800,000 in unpaid wages and severance, without jobs. Although then-Chancellor Wiley repeatedly expressed his grave concern, he failed to take any sort of action.
Today, that $800,000 remains unpaid and 63 workers are blacklisted, unable to find work in the garment industry because they are considered troublemakers"" as a result of their years-long struggle to defend their rights.
Although we applaud Chancellor Martin's swift action on Jerzees, much remains to be done. Cases like this come up all the time, and it's about time we implement a real solution that would prevent such abuses from happening in the first place.
The Designated Suppliers Program, a plan UW-Madison agreed to in principle back in 2006, is such a solution. The DSP was created specifically to prevent this sort of abuse, and to reward factories that take workers' rights seriously. Implementing the DSP will require a chancellor who is truly committed to respecting workers' rights and fulfilling the promise UW-Madison made three years ago.
If you want to know more, and if you want to build a student-labor movement that demands another world, come to room B130 Van Vleck Hall Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m., when two workers from Jerzees de Honduras - the very same case that prompted UW-Madison's termination of Russell - will be on campus to share their story.
If you want to get more involved, you're also welcome at our weekly meetings at 7 p.m. on Thursdays in the TITU. I hope to see you there.
Jan Van Tol is a senior and member of the Student Labor Action Coalition. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
