Protest Sweatshops

Unjust working conditions--Kathie Lee and Nike have both gotten into trouble over them. Now, Students for a Sweat-Free Campus (SFSFC) are working to make sure that Harvard doesn't condone the same injustices.

The organization is working with the Harvard administration to draft a "Campus Code of Conduct for Harvard Licensees," which would require the University to take an active role in preventing sweatshop conditions in those companies which make all Harvard apparel. According to the student activist group, Harvard has licensed at least one company which makes hats in just such sweatshop conditions.

The Sweat-Free Campus movement is taking its cue from Duke University, whose administration has already adopted a strict code of conduct, and from Brown, whose student government has passed a code now pending administrative approval. Several other universities across the country are considering similar proposals.

The movement is asking for support from student organizations for four main provisions of the code (the details of which will be worked out in discussions with the administration). They are as follows:

. All workers should be paid a living wage.

. Workers should be required to work no more than 48 hours per week and 12 hours of overtime, with at least one day off in every week.

. Workers should be allowed the freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively.

. Harvard should work with other universities to establish a system of independent monitoring to uphold this code of conduct.

We endorse these four provisions and encourage other student organizations to sign on to SFSFC's petition. More importantly, we encourage the administration, in conjunction with Students for a Sweat-Free Campus, to adopt a stringent code of conduct to prevent sweatshop conditions. Shai M. Sachs '01, an organizer of the rally, says, "What we're hoping to get across is that sweatshop labor is a very real, very shameful practice, and that we need a strong code of conduct to combat it."