The Daily Cardinal - Thursday, 02 March 2006
UW labor group issues ultimatum to Chancellor
Written by Andrew Peck
UW-Madison labor activists delivered an ultimatum to Chancellor John Wiley's office Wednesday, demanding fuller endorsement of the Designated Suppliers Program, which aims to eliminate sweatshop-manufactured UW-Madison apparel.
According to Molly Glasgow of the Student Labor Action Coalition, Wiley has endorsed some, but not all parts, of the DSP.
"He didn't sign on to the entire designated supply proposal-he signed on to a lot of the main parts of it, but not the whole thing," she said. "So this is to get him to sign on to the entire language of the designated supply program."
This additional language, according to a SLAC statement, requires licensees of UW-Madison apparel to source 25 percent of their goods through factories with a legitimate labor union. In addition, it would force licensees to pay a higher price per item so that factories can offer workers a living wage and comply with all other code of conduct standards. These changes would need to be adopted by March 24.
"They all are very interested in working on this, but it needs to happen soon," Glasgow said, citing the need for this deadline. "A lot of [unionized] factories are not going to be open if we don't start now."
When asked what would happen if the Chancellor"s office did not adopt the policy by the deadline, Chapin Smith, a member of SLAC said, "If they don't at least agree in principle to adopt the entirety of the language, then we're going to be pursuing a pattern of escalation and direct action."
Although Smith refused to comment on what this pattern would entail, Glasgow said that if the Chancellor does not meet demands, "[SLAC will] work along with the national movement and other universities and make them comply."
Glasgow admits, however, that SLAC's course of action is highly contingent on what the chancellor chooses to do next.
"It depends on what his qualms about it are, what he agrees to, how he goes about it," Glasgow said. "It's all on him now, and so we will adapt our actions towards his response."
LaMarr Billups, special assistant to Chancellor Wiley, declined to issue a statement on the ultimatum, saying, "We got their statement and we"re looking it over and we'll have a response, probably in a couple of days."