Most student organizations here at UW-Madison provide a great service for the students and community. Yes, there are some student orgs like the Slappy Skateboard Club or the Wisconsin Lawn Sports Club that were created for fun, but they don’t bother anyone. Unless, of course, as a child, the neighbor boy beat you with a croquet mallet and now you are emotionally scarred because of it. In that case WLSC may upset you to some degree.
However, there is one student org that serves one purpose, which is to annoy the living crap out of me. Student Labor Action Coalition has shown up in the news yet again. This time it’s to whine about Palermo’s Pizza.
About a year ago, SLAC protested the partnership between the UW and adidas because adidas failed to pay workers who were laid off when their factory closed down. Now, SLAC is protested poor working conditions in the Palermo’s Pizza factory.
Look, I absolutely believe working conditions for factory workers should be fair and up to current standards. It is absolutely morally wrong to exploit people because they cost less to employ. However, to send Interim Chancellor David Ward a letter and a pizza spelling “No Justice, No Pizza!” is ridiculous.
Why should the actions of a company affect our school at all? I understand that they are one of our sponsors and there is a morality clause in our contract with them. However, I don’t think there should be one.
What’s the point? Palermo’s, Nike, adidas and most other companies are still going to chase cheap labor and cut corners to make a profit. Why would they care what the morality clause says in the contract with UW?
SLAC’s solution to problems like this is to drop the offending company as a sponsor just like we did with Nike. As if that would mean anything to these companies. I’m sure dropping Nike made a huge impact on their bottom line. Let’s get real. Nike is doing just fine, so will adidas and so will Palermo’s. Dropping sponsors because a group of students is mad at them is stupid.
Instead, we should be focusing on collaborating with our sponsors to ensure safety and healthy working conditions in their factories. I am glad there is a student org that cares so much about these issues and is bringing them to the attention of our chancellor. However, the grandstanding and grandiose demonstrations need to stop. I don’t want to listen to their whining for any longer. If SLAC wants people to take it seriously, find solutions to these problems instead of piling them on the desk of a man who has way more important things to take care of.
Nick is a senior majoring in marketing. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
