Guest column: Laboring for change

Last year, Feminism Without Borders lobbied for cutting the university’s contract with Russell Athletic Corporation. This was in the wake of serious violations of workers’ rights at Russell’s Jerzees de Honduras factory. Eventually, Russell closed the factory, primarily because the workers formed an independent union.

Fortunately, this university, along with over 90 other universities, cut its contract with Russell, rejecting the unjust treatment of workers. Earlier this week, we learned  the campaign was not in vain. Russell agreed to reopen the factory and rehire the workers. The factory will be back in business with unionized, represented workers because of the pressure put on the corporation by universities.

Feminism Without Borders was thrilled that the university cut its contract with Russell and even more excited that our university contributed to this success for workers’ rights. However, we feel there were flaws in the way the administration dealt with this factory case. Feminism Without Borders worked for more than a year to convince our reluctant administration to cut the Russell contract. While our administration hesitated, Russell got away with unfair labor practices and the workers lost their jobs for nine months.

This year, we have already learned about violations at two Nike factories that produce collegiate apparel in which fired workers have been denied owed pay. We cannot stand by as more workers lose their jobs because they stood up for their rights. But we cannot simply cut individual contracts and expect industry-wide reform. We successfully punished Russell’s labor violations last semester, but now we need a broader solution that will encourage fundamental change. We have the power to ensure no university clothing supports unethical policies that harm workers; we just need a way to use it more effectively.

The solution is the Designated Suppliers Program, a plan that would use the licensing power of this university to provide incentives for companies to respect  workers’ rights. The DSP would help prevent companies from deserting unionized factories by requiring apparel companies to send a certain percentage of their orders to factories with fair labor practices.

The plan is endorsed by the Workers Rights Consortium, an independent monitoring organization with which our university is already affiliated. Forty-four other colleges and universities, including peer institutions such as UCLA, University of California at Berkeley and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — and even our rival Duke University — have already signed on. Unfortunately, our administration lacks the initiative to join this growing movement.

This year, Feminism Without Borders, along with a growing coalition of students, continues to press our administration to sign on to the DSP. We believe that our university has a responsibility to take a stand on issues of global social justice. As we have seen with the Russell case, we are in a position of power as both students and consumers. Let’s use this power to uplift the global community instead of condoning inhumane labor practices.

Liz Ciavolino is a junior music major and a member of Feminism Without Borders. She can be reached at lizciav at gmail dot com.