Right now, University of Michigan students are staging a sit-in to end the use of sweatshop labor for university licensed apparel. The students are demanding that the administration accept a Designated Suppliers Program and Code of Conduct for its licensees, that will actually reward factories for adopting fair and humane labor standards for its workers—thus reversing the “race to the bottom” trend, into a “race to the top.” The best part of this plan, developed largely by United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), is that the Workers’ Rights Consortium, in cooperation with the local union or union-like entity, monitors and evaluates their places of employment for compliance with the Code of Conduct. Workers can request that the factory be taken off the list of Code-compliant factories if violations occur.
Call, e-mail or fax the University of Michigan president, Mary Sue Coleman, now! Tell her that you support the students sitting in and want the University of Michigan to be an example to other schools committed to the dignity of workers everywhere. College apparel is a multi-billion dollar industry, and this plan has the potential to make real change.
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