UPDATE: 6/04/13 7:00 p.m. The University of Wisconsin-Madison dropped its lawsuit against adidas Monday, in which the university sought to determine if the apparel company had violated its contract with UW-Madison, following a settlement between the apparel company and a union of former workers.
Former UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward filed the lawsuit in July 2011 to determine whether adidas violated its contract with the university by failing to pay the workers severance after the factory, which was contracted by adidas, closed unexpectedly in January 2011.
At the beginning of the process, Ward identified two goals as important outcomes of the litigation. His first goal was to convince adidas to contribute monetary compensation to the workers, and the second to defend the integrity of UW-Madison’s Labor Code of Conduct, according to the statement released Monday.
Ward said in a statement that the lawsuit was dropped because both objectives had been accomplished under the settlement.
The settlement reached in April ultimately required the factory to pay the over 2,700 workers represented by the union $1.8 million in severance.
Member of the Labor Codes Licensing Compliance Committee Lydia Zepeda said she’s not surprised by the news but is nevertheless pleased with the outcome.
“I think that it was expected, I’m glad the workers are happy with what they’ve gotten,” Zepeda said. "So if they’re happy, it seems to me the issue is settled.”
Although various campus organizations including the Student Labor Action Coalition and the LCLCC called on Ward to sever ties with the clothing manufacturer, Ward decided to file the lawsuit to determine if adidas violated its contract with the university.
“As a matter of contract and business practice, the university ought not move presumptively toward termination of contracts for breaches of material conditions, but rather work with the partner to cure the identified failures in performance,” Ward said in the statement.
SLAC member Lingran Kong said Ward’s decisions throughout the process reflect pressure from outside sources, not his individual doing.
“It was the 17 other universities that severed contracts that pressured us to take action,” Kong said. “Here you see the chancellor taking credit for the situation when it wasn’t really his doing.”
