President agrees to 'sweat-free' plan
By Nicole LaPrade
The president's cabinet has "agreed in principle" to an agreement that would pressure manufacturers to contract all school logo apparel from factories that are sweat-free, the office of University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., said.
The Designated Supplier Program proposal by the United Students Against Sweatshops urges colleges and universities to require that their logo goods be sourced to factories designated by the Worker Rights Consortium as meeting basic criteria, including requiring a living wage and allowing workers to unionize.
"While a number of questions need to be answered and additional discussions are needed with University departments affected by the adoption of this proposal, the cabinet agrees in principle," said Jim Briggs, Locatelli's executive assistant.
This is the first year of this campaign and, according to senior Amy Chan, the USAS representative at Santa Clara and the liaison for Northern California, the challenge is getting other universities on board. She said that with more schools involved, the greater the likelihood that the plan could work.
"This is how we put power back into the hands of the universities and hold the brands accountable," said Chan, a former AS vice president.
The plan is also being discussed among some University of California schools, including Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. Chan also said that she was recently contacted by students at Cal State San Bernadino, who were interested in proposing the plan to officials at their school.
Chan said that the campaign is meant to be carried out over 4 years. In the first year, USAS hopes to have 25 percent of university apparel sourced to designated factories, 50 percent in the second year, 75 percent in the third year and 100 percent in the fourth year.
According to USAS, the increase in wage could be accomplished without "large increases to retail prices." Workers are typically paid about 25 cents for a shirt that is sold on campus for $20. Thus the worker's wage could be doubled by an increase in the retail price of only 25 cents, the group said.
Contact Nicole LaPrade at (408) 554-4546 or at nlaprade@scu.edu.