Students Stage Sweatshop Protests at Colleges Nationwide

Over the last two weeks, students on three campuses have staged sit-ins for a total of 16 days.

Students at the University of Pennsylvania occupied the president's office for nine days, eating granola bars and peanut butter and communicating with the outside world via e-mail and cell phone.

A week ago, more than 50 police officers dressed in full riot gear forcibly ended a four-day sit-in at the University of Wisconsin, using saws to break apart a group of students who chained themselves together with bicycle U-locks around their necks, after earlier dispersing protesters with pepper spray.

Here at Harvard, members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) have been staging rallies and demonstrations for almost a year. Their last attempt to distribute leaflets in Mass Hall resulted in prompt eviction.

What has inspired these activists to disregard response papers and problem sets and put their physical safety at risk?

All of the protesters were demanding that their schools withdraw from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and join the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC).

On the surface, the distinction between the two organizations seems slight. Both are designed to combat overseas sweatshops, both advocate a system of monitoring and working with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

But protesters charge the FLA is too closely tied to corporate interests to protect workers. Administrators counter the WRC is too loosely organized to be effective.

"The FLA--which we pronounce 'flaw'--was designed by corporations to protect themselves," says Benjamin L. McKean '02, a member of PSLM and also a Crimson editor.

Robert K. Durkee, vice president for public affairs at Princeton University and the sole representative of universities on the FLA board, says the WR0C is unstable.

"With the FLA you can be fairly confident it is what is says it is, whereas the WRC is always moving," he says.

So while both students and administrators agree that ending sweatshop labor is a worthy goal, the question of which organization to join has inflamed passionate debate across the country.

Members Only

Harvard joined the FLA last spring in a coordinated move of all eight Ivy League schools.

University Attorney Allan A. Ryan Jr., who has been handling sweatshop concerns for the administration, has made it clear that Harvard has no intention of withdrawing from the FLA.

"We support the FLA," he says. "I don't think Harvard is in a position to turn its back on anyone attempting to fix this problem."

The FLA currently boasts the membership of about 130 colleges and universities across the country.

But momentum may be turning against the organization.

Two schools--the Universities of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin--have recently withdrawn from the FLA, and a third, Temple University, is threatening to do the same by March 15 unless the organization enacts significant reform.

Eight schools have joined the WRC, five within the past two weeks. Brown University is now a member of both organizations.

In attracting members, history is on the side of the FLA. The organization was founded a year and half ago, in November 1998, as the result of a 1996 presidential task force convened to address worker rights. The charter was signed in June 1999.

The WRC dates from last summer, and its charter was released last October, almost a year after the FLA's. Students, unions and human rights groups founded the organization specifically in opposition to the FLA.

Ryan says he does have significant concerns about the policy of the FLA, but at this point, he says, it is a more complete organization.

"The WRC is just getting started," he says.

Only U?

One of the biggest differences between the FLA and the WRC is the scope of the organizations. The FLA seeks to monitor the entire clothing industry, while the WRC focuses only on companies producing collegiate apparel.

"[Our focus] is much broader than university logo goods," says Sam W. Brown Jr., the FLA's executive director. "We're systemically reviewing the entire industry."

Brown says the college logo market--about one percent of the entire industry, he estimates--is too small to reform the entire industry.

But Maria A. Roeper, the WRC's coordinator, says raising the bar for collegiate apparel manufacturers, many of whom produce other clothing, will impact the total market.

"Universities have power through their licensing agreement so they can lend a voice and lend their power to helping workers improve themselves," she says. "We'll be able to raise awareness in that sector to create a higher standard and use that as a model for the whole industry."

She says the WRC, which focuses solely on collegiate apparel, is more effective at meeting and responding to university concerns.

"We're tailored for universities specifically, the university market and university needs," she says.

Too Much Company

Much of the criticism directed against the FLA charges that clothing manufacturers have too much influence in the organization for the FLA to meaningfully change the industry.

Nike, Reebok, Patagonia and Liz Claiborne are all founding members of the FLA, and corporations hold six of the 14 seats on the organization's board.

Human rights groups hold another six seats, universities occupy one and the last is reserved for the group's chair.

Student activists and WRC members say this structure gives corporations too much say in the organization while marginalizing the role of universities.

The board of the WRC will include three university representatives, three students and six NGOs, Roeper says.

But Brown says corporations must have a voice in the monitoring process for it to be effective.

"The fact is if you go into a factory in the Philippines, you have to get in the door," he says. "You don't have access to the factory and the accounting records [if you don't work with the companies]."

Unless you cooperate with the companies you are trying to monitor, he says, "you're just kidding yourself."

Brown says the small market share of university products prevents the FLA from giving colleges a greater voice.

Despite this, he says the university seat on the board is "critical."

"The board is very carefully balanced between NGOs and companies," he says. "If there's an impasse [the university seat] is a swing vote."

But critics of the FLA, including Ryan, say universities should have a greater influence in the organization.

"Since universities are so involved in the FLA, it would be a nice sign of recognition if it was reflected in the FLA's structure," he says.

Ryan says the one seat that universities occupy does not allow them to have a significant impact on the organization.

"I'm not sure that it does [allow for reform]. I'm not sure that it does it all," he says.

From his own experience as FLA university representative, Durkee says the structure of the FLA does give universities a voice.

"I am fairly confident that the structure will allow for meaningful change," he says. "I think it's a workable arrangement."

He says universities should stay within the FLA rather than withdrawing, because he says they can make a meaningful impact with their presence, even if limited to only one seat.

"One of the reasons that universities want to be in [the FLA] is to exercise influence," he says. "We can help the FLA live up to its aspirations and encourage change over time."

Durkee pointed to the issue of women's rights as one area in which universities have convinced the FLA to adopt a tougher stand.

Brown says universities have been "enormously successful" in promoting reform and says they are not bound by the FLA--universities can require more stringent policies if they choose.

"The FLA is a floor, not a ceiling. Universities can adopt higher standards," he says.

Money in Monitoring

Opponents of the FLA also criticize the organization's monitoring methods. They charge that the organization does not monitor enough factories and cannot be impartial. "Companies decide who monitors and which factories get monitored, the FLA notifies factories ahead of time, they have to [inspect] as little as five percent, and then [the FLA] labels all products of a company as 'sweat-free,'" Roeper says.

Ryan also says the FLA's policy of brand certification, where entire companies, rather than individual factories, are declared "sweat-free" is a weakness.

"There's a danger that the brand carrying a certification might still [be using sweatshop labor]," he says.

The FLA's charter mandates that 10 percent of a manufacturer's factories be inspected every year in order for the manufacturer to receive certification, although the range can be adjusted from five to 15 percent. In the first three years of operation, 30 percent must be inspected.

Protesters say this is not enough and charge that corporations have too great a say in the monitoring process.

Brown admits that corporations get to select their monitors but says all monitors must be authorized by the FLA.

"They get to choose the monitors, but they get to choose from an accredited list," he says. "We're in charge of accrediting monitors."

He denies that companies can choose the factories to be monitored. He says manufacturers can only make recommendations.

"I get to pick the factories," he says. "They suggest which ones, then I get to choose."

He also defended the FLA's policy of giving factories advance notice of inspections.

"If you're trying to fix a problem and you tell them you're going to look for it, then they will fix it," he says. "The point is to fix the problem and not just to catch the bad guy."

Supporters of the FLA counter activists' criticism by saying the WRC provides for no external monitoring system at all.

"The WRC has no required level of monitoring, so I don't get the charge," Brown says.

Ryan also says the WRC's lack of monitoring is "significant."

"I don't see how you can get away from having a systematic monitoring organization," he says.

Roeper says the WRC aims to create partnerships with local NGOs to empower workers, rather than rely on external forces.

"We're coming from a different approach," she says. "We're basing a lot more of our work with partnerships with local organizations that can educate workers."

Full Disclosure

Finally, activists attack the FLA for not requiring a policy of full disclosure, which forces companies to release the locations of all overseas factories.

The FLA's charter allows companies to sign a "confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement" with monitors, which prevents information from being released to the public.

Because of this, PSLM members say the FLA's code does not comply with standards that Harvard has already set.

Last spring, the University adopted a policy of full disclosure for all its licensees. The two biggest manufacturers of Harvard apparel, Champion Inc. and Gear for Sports, have already complied.

But Brown says it is unrealistic for an organization monitoring the entire clothing industry to require full disclosure.

He says top fashion designers, who are concerned about industrial espionage, would never consent to release factory names to the general public.

"The high fashion business...has very different business interests from someone's who's making a sweatshirt or a t-shirt," he says.

Sweat the Details

The major distinctions between the FLA and WRC lie in their differing strategies and points of focus.

The FLA's strategy is to work with companies to allow consumers to make better decisions. The FLA hopes to encourage consumers to purchase products from companies it has certified as "sweat-free," thereby encouraging other corporations to reform their labor practices, Durkee says.

"We're trying to encourage companies to make this commitment and live up to these standards on the theory that you have to mobilize the public to make consumer decisions about this," he says.

The WRC, on the other hand, is concerned less with consumers and more with workers, Roeper says.

She says the organization can best promote worker rights by creating partnerships with local NGOs.

"What we're doing is creating a new kind of approach to the problem of sweatshops, creating long-term, good connections in the global community and empowering workers," she says.

Up and Running

Neither the FLA nor the WRC is currently operational, but the FLA, with its year head start, has a more focused timetable.

Brown says the organization recently completed finalizing the standards for accrediting external monitors and is now working on a 30-page "checklist" for monitors to refer to when conducting inspections. Brown says he expects this stage, which will include a series of test runs, to be completed by the spring.

The FLA must then select and train the independent monitors. Brown says he anticipates full-scale monitoring to begin by next year.

Activists say the FLA is moving too slowly, especially given its 18 months of operation. They say the newly created WRC is advancing at a more rapid pace.

Roeper says the WRC has already started establishing contacts with NGOs in other countries and is in the process of creating a "development plan" for how best to proceed. The organization is holding its founding conference at the beginning of April.

"We don't have a timetable yet but I can say fairly confidently we've been moving at a fairly impressive pace," Roeper says.

Brown says the complex nature and tenacity of sweatshop labor creates the need for a lengthy, methodical approach.

"Six months after the charter and [the charge that] we haven't created a better world isn't a real criticism," he says. "You can't do it overnight if you want to move an entire industry--it's a long, systematic process."

Ryan says Harvard is in no rush to make a decision.

He says he is still studying the WRC and the possibility of joining the organization is still open. But such a move would not necessarily mean a withdrawal from the FLA, Ryan says.

"I'm going to be looking closely at the WRC's materials and I'll give the president my best recommendation," he says.