L.E.A.P. @ G.S.U.

We have continued our work on the Sweat-Free Campus campaign that is now being led by USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops). USAS was formed in July '98 during a conference that had 60 student representatives from universities from across the US. One hundred and seventy universities have agreements with the CLC (Colliegant Licensing Committee) who in turn contracts out the production of all school apparel. USAS has been trying to persuade the CLC to adopt a code of conduct similar to the one written by Duke in '97. The three key points to the code of conduct that USAS feels are important are 1) a living wage, 2) full and public disclosure, and 3) independent monitoring. Without all three of these the others will be ineffective. The CLC is ready to adopt a code of conduct that their Task Force has been working on. This code does not meet USAS standards and we're now at a stand off.
The White House formed a group out of the Department of Labor called the AIP (Apparel Industry Partnership) after the Kathie Lee Gifford story received so much press attention in '96. The AIP was made up of a coalition of labor & human rights organizations, and apparel manufacturers. The AIP formed a subgroup called the FLA (Fair Labor Association). The same group of people were sitting on the board of the FLA. Board members included some of the best known abusers of workers rights, such as Nike, Liz Claiborne, Wal-Mart, Gap, and Guess. By the fall of '98 all of the human rights and labor organziations pulled out of the AIP due to the lack of progress and willingness to change of the apparel manufacturers. The FLA made up their own Code of Conduct which falls short of making any real changes for workers in sweatshops across the world. The FLA/AIP has their own website where you can view a copy of their Code of Conduct. Now the FLA is asking universities to sign on under them. Over 100 universities have done so thus far. USAS is committed in calling the FLA out to the public as being a sham. They are merely wasting tax payers' money in continuing to get nothing accomplished by the weak code they have agreed upon.
In the past six months there have been sit-ins at Duke, Georgetown, U of Arizona, UNC, U of Michigan, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. All protests have gone over very well and many of our demands have been recognized by the university officials.
On July 9, 1999, over 100 students from across the US and Canada met on the steps of the Department of Labor. We asked that the Dept. of Labor take a stand and force the FLA to do what it was formed to do (take a stand for worker's rights). The press was swarming around students dying to get the latest information on what USAS would do. We delivered a letter to the Secretary of the Dept. of Labor with our demands and we hope to hear from them soon as to how they will react to our requests.
On July 9-11, 1999, over 220 students from across the US and Canada met for the 2nd USAS conference which was held at the AFL-CIO's Meany Center in Maryland. We held weekend long workshops and discussions on where USAS should go in the following school year. To go from 60 students to 220 in one year's time is amazing. We should all be proud of the hard work we've done in the past two years to bring the issue of workers' rights to the forefront of media and public attention.
USAS has decided at this time to continue to pound away at the FLA. We will not stop until the FLA complies with a code of conduct that encompusses a living wage, full public disclosure of factory locations, and truly independent monitoring. We are not going to force our universities to pull out of the FLA at this time, but we will continue to persuade other universities from signing on. Many human rights and labor organizations are currently working on an alternative monitoring system which will hopefully be completed within the next three months. At that time we will begin to put pressure on our universities to pull out of the FLA and sign on with the new monitoring system. Some of the organizations who are working on this monitoring program include UNITE, National Labor Committee, Global Exchange, Sweatshop Watch, and the Maquila Solidarity Network.
Now is a crucial point in seeing whether our university officials will stand by their word and demand that the CLC & the FLA/AIP listen to USAS's requests. Please contact LEAP-GSU, USAS, or UNITE in NYC if you attend a school that you think might be working with the CLC or FLA. We will let you know if your university is in fact working with the CLC or FLA.