United students against sweatshops final

• 1. United Students Against Sweatshops
  Christine Laney
  GJM- Final Project
  Due: 7/26/2010
  

2. What is United Students Against Sweatshops?
A student organization with chapters at over 250 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Canada
Formed in 1997 as part of the anti-sweatshop movement in North America
Is widely viewed as the largest anti-sweatshop community group in the United States and Canada
Defines "sweatshops" broadly
3. What do they focus on?
Domestic and international sweatshops and have built coalitions of students, labor groups, workers, and community members to focus on these campaigns
Support Designated Suppliers Program, an anti-sweatshop policy that would source collegiate apparel from factories that respect workers rights
Support Coalition of Immokalee Workers campaign against Taco Bell
Large companies such as New Balance, Forever 21, Coca-Cola, Hanes, Nike
4. The Worker Rights Consortium
In April 2000, the USAS founded the Workers Rights Consortium
Investigate labor conditions in factories producing collegiate apparel
Work with NGOs, human rights groups, and local labor unions or federations
Currently, over 180 colleges and universities have affiliated with the WRC
5. Sweat-Free Campus Campaign
Organize anti-sweatshop campaigns on their campus
Mandate that clothes with collegiate logos be manufactured under fair and ethical conditions
New challenge: mandating that these producers manufacture a significant portion of apparel in factories with demographic representation and a paid living wage
6. Campaign to Stop Killer Coke
Targeting Coca-Cola for violations in Columbia, Turkey, India, Guatemala, and Indonesia
Eight union leaders from Coca-Cola plants in Columbia have been murderedsince 1989
Evidence suggests managers ordered assaults
Working to get Coke kicked off of their campuses until policies change
7. National Campus Living Wage Campaign
Fight for better workplaces on college and university campuses
Workers sometimes average 90-hours a week, receive poverty wages, and lack healthcare
Includes union organizing drives, contract negotiation campaigns, living wage campaigns, and code of conduct campaigns
8. How have they succeeded?
Sit-ins at University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Georgetown, and Duke where they occupied presidents offices
Gathered in Washington, DC for the second Sweat-Free Campus Conference
Pursue University students hunger strike for eleven days
9. Major Victories
Nike and the Kukdong-Mexmode factory in Puebla Mexico
Baseball cap factory in New York
Harvard Living Wage Campaign
10. Kukdong-Mexmode factory
Investigated by the WRC and found to be a union-busting factory
Workers that organized were fired and blacklisted
Students demanded universities suspend contracts with Nike until workers were reinstated and their unions were recognized
Nike buckled under pressure
Workers were reinstated, won recognition of their union, and bargained for a new contract
11. Baseball Cap Factory
Baseball cap factory in Derby, New York
Workers tried to organize for better wages and safer conditions
Threat of a factory closing
Several code of conduct violations found
Student organizations demanded contract suspension
Result: Factory stayed in Derby and workers go union recognition and fair contract
12. Harvard Living Wage Campaign
Students demanded workers at Harvard be paid a living wage
Administration refused to move on the issue
Students took over the administration buildings for two weeks
Administration surrendered
Campus workers are now being paid a living wage
Similar campaigns are now organizing across the country
13. Bibliography
"About Us." USAS. Organizing for Student & Worker Power! Web. 23
July 2010. .
Bandy, Joe. "Pardoxes of Transnational Civil Societies Under Neoliberalism: The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras." Social Problems 51.3 (2004): 410-31. Aug. 2004. Web. 24 July 2010. .
"United Students Against Sweatshops." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 06 Mar. 2010. Web. 24 July 2010. .
"USW: Overview: United Students Against Sweatshops." USW: United Steelworkers. United Steelworkers. Web. 24 July 2010.