from The Captial Times, March 17, 2005
UW students protest over sweatshop labor
Demand role in decisions
About 45 students stormed University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley's outer office on Wednesday, demanding he work more closely with them to combat sweatshop labor.They stayed for about 10 or 15 minutes and left. There were no arrests, the UW Police said.
"He has in the last few weeks consistently refused to work with students, academic staff and faculty on anti-sweatshop work," said Joel Feingold of the Student Labor Action Coalition. "He's falling into a classic pattern. He's stonewalling us."
They challenged Wiley on two points: They wanted the university to send a letter to the clothing makers that produce UW logo clothing, spelling out a process for avoiding sweatshop labor practices. And they showed their displeasure at being left out of negotiations with adidas, whose contract with the athletic department was extended last week by the Board of Regents.
The international Multifiber Trade Agreement, which limited the amount of clothing that a company could purchase from a particular country, ran out on Dec. 31. That had labor advocates concerned that countries lacking labor rights, like China, would receive a lot more business.
An anti-sweatshop panel at UW, made up of faculty, staff and students, asked Wiley last year to send a letter to licensees outlining the university's policy regarding the end of the agreement. The university's licensees were discouraged from doing additional business with countries that do not respect labor rights.
The letter also asked the licensees to divulge additional information, like how many goods are made in a certain factory, which could explain which factories are the most profitable. That, in turn, could help expose the places with the most repressive policies, the students said.
Last week, the Board of Regents signed a new, six-year agreement with adidas to make on-field clothing and equipment, as well as their replicas to be sold in stores. The students protested at the Board of Regents meeting, saying adidas needed to provide greater disclosure that the goods were being made in factories that respect labor rights. The agreement allows the chancellor and regents to see the company's factory information, but not the public.
"It was a big step to let a chancellor's representative look at this proprietary information," a UW official said.