Monday, September 15, 2008
Wave the Wheat. Rock Chalk Jayhawk. Win or lose, we’ll still booze.
These phrases adorn the backs of hundreds of T-shirts around campus every day, sported by proud Jayhawks who most likely don’t know where their shirts come from. But Ben Jefferies, Tonganoxie junior, does, and that awareness prompted him to form KU Students Against Sweatshops this year.
The goal of KUSAS is to end KU’s participation in the sweatshop economy. Jefferies defines a sweatshop as a factory where workers are not able to form unions, or earn high enough wages to solely support themselves and their families.
The first official semester for KUSAS has kicked off with the extensive research into the factories that produce Kansas apparel and how the clothes are made. KUSAS compiled a list of factories the University buys clothing from, but research is still ongoing.
Tailan Chi, associate professor of international business, said it could be difficult to find and define a sweatshop because local regulations vary greatly between countries.
“Some countries with lower incomes can’t afford to have factory regulations that seem appropriate to a developed society like ours,” said Chi. “They can’t be held to our standards.”
Two hundred universities around the country have their own chapters of Students Against Sweatshops. Jefferies wants KU to join the ranks of 48 universities who have achieved the ultimate goal: a license from the Designated Suppliers Program.
The DSP is a program that protects the rights of workers who sew university logo apparel. A license from the DSP would ensure that individual factories that produce KU apparel are heavily monitored.
The University is licensed by the Fair Labor Association, but Jefferies isn’t satisfied. He said representatives from Nike, Adidas and Reebok sat on the board of the FLA, creating a conflict of interest.
“The DSP is under the Workers Rights Consortium, which is completely independent of corporations like Nike and Adidas, and has much stricter enforcement mechanisms,” said Jefferies. “It would actually ensure that workers’ rights are respected.”
Even with monitored regulations in place, it can still be difficult to know what will go on in the factories.
“It’s challenging to enforce these regulations,” Chi said. “Every organization has its own self interest. You can try to control it, but it’s never perfect.”
Despite the odds, Jefferies said he remained optimistic.
“We probably have a long road ahead of us,” he said, “but it’s definitely possible.”
— — Edited by Ramsey Cox
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Comments
Do you know where that KU T-shirt came from?
I did a report on sweatshops once, and where the term "sweatshop" comes from, is defining it as a place where the workers are paid per piece (of clothing or parts or whatever it is in the factory) that they make and therefore have to make enough pieces that they sweat large amounts just to make barely enough money to survive. That's just a blanket definition, generally of course they work horribly long hours, and of course are not allowed to form unions or even speak about it or else they get "blacklisted." While it is very disturbing to hear that KU shirts come from such places, it really isn't surprising to me, having done the report and learned the horrifyingly large number of corporations that use sweatshops. It is actually hard to find companies that don't use sweatshops at all. It's really sad to think about and frustrating because you can often feel like there's nothing you can do about it. (Granted this was about 3 years ago, so the things I learned at the time about companies who use them may not be true any more, and i truly hope that is the case.) I think the idea of the DSP, as explained in this article, is great. I fully support it.
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