http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=1996
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UI to ask corporate partners for better labor conditions
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By JULIE WURTH
News-Gazette Staff Writer
CHICAGO --
The University of Illinois
and other colleges across the country
appear ready to take a public stand
against sweatshop labor.
Responding to pressure from students
and labor activists, the UI agreed in
principle to adopt a "code of conduct" for
its corporate partners, including athletic
shoe giant Nike.
Associate Chancellor Judy Rowan said
the decision grew out of talks with the
Student Labor Support Network, which has
protested labor conditions at Nike
factories around the world.
"It would appear at this point that the
university is going to do the right
thing," said group President Lori Kreloff,
who addressed UI trustees Wednesday in
Chicago.
The UI athletic department has a
sponsorship agreement with Nike, receiving
money and free apparel in exchange for
using only Nike products.
The Student Labor Support Network said
Nike workers in China and Indonesia are
subjected to forced overtime, low wages
and unhealthy working conditions.
Kreloff said an internal Nike report
leaked to the press cited levels of
carcinogens at a factory in China that
exceeded local standards by 177 times.
Human rights monitors also found that
women at one Chinese plant are fired for
becoming pregnant, even though Chinese law
guarantees maternity leave, she said.
Rowan said the UI agreed to discuss the
allegations with Nike and promised to
speak out publicly on the issue.
"We agreed in principle that we oppose
sweatshop labor in violation of applicable
laws around the world," she said. "We
don't think it's appropriate for our name
to be associated with such practices."
She said Collegiate Licensing Corp.,
the licensing agent for the UI and other
universities, is working on a general code
of conduct that can be used in all such
contracts.
Kreloff, a UI senior, said any code
should include a clause requiring
independent monitoring of the factories by
a third party.
"We need to sort out what we can do,
but that just seems to me to make good
sense," Rowan said. "We are not in a
position ourselves to go out and police
these things." And schools can't simply
rely on assertions by the company, she
said.
Nike has its own code of conduct
already, though it does not provide for
third-party observers, she said.
"The company says it stands for
fairness in the way it deals with its
workers," Rowan said.
Asked if the third-party clause might
drive away potential corporate partners,
Rowan said, "I really do believe that this
is going to be resolved at the national
level through the licensing agent. I don't
think anybody has resolved exactly how it
is going to work out."
She noted that, as a state university,
the UI is under some constraints about
what it can sign or promise.
Kreloff said the group is not asking
the UI to boycott Nike, but to ensure its
corporate partners uphold decent working
conditions and basic human rights.
She said 30 universities nationwide are
involved in the effort.
"The University of Illinois should not
only be an academic leader, but an ethical
leader as well," she said.
(c)1998 The News-Gazette
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