However, USAS decided to arrange a speaking tour with Julio and Manuel
to bring their stories to the college students who buy the clothes they
make. Educating the students, who then put pressure on their
university, who put pressure on the apparel companies, is a way to
change the conditions at TOS Dominicana and sweatshops elsewhere. Once
Hanes heard about the speaking tour and started receiving responses
from students, the company decided to meet with the union organizers at
TOS.

After Julio and Manuel spoke, we wrote letters to Joia Johnson, the
vice-president of Hanes, demanding that the workers at TOS fired for
trying to organize get their jobs back and that they ensure that
workers’ rights are respected at the factory. Students also signed the
petition to be given to the UMD administration urging them to sign onto
the Designated Suppliers Program.  Julio and Manuel thanked us for
listening to them and giving them a chance to tell their story, but we
thanked them for being courageous enough to fight against worker
repression.

How does this relate to the average college student? Well, chances
are we all own at least one university-branded t-shirt or hoodie. The
big athletic apparel companies such as Nike that want to produce
clothing or athletic wear with a university’s name have to enter into a
contract with the university to do so. Until about 10 years ago, there
was no stipulation in these contracts that the rights of the workers
had to be respected who made university licensed clothing. USAS
chapters on many different campuses across the country demanded that
the companies making university clothing be held accountable for the
terrible conditions of these sweatshops and improve those conditions.
The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) was created to verify and inspect
conditions in places where our clothing is made.

However, things are not always that simple. An unfortunate
consequence that occurs is that sometimes when a factory is found to be
non-compliant, and steps are taken to ensure workers’ rights, such as
organizing a union, the apparel company will simply pull its orders out
and the factory will be shut down. The apparel company doesn’t want to
deal with a factory with workers who actually get paid living wages,
because it will cut into their bottom line. This is a terrible result
because we want the companies to stay in the factory and help improve
the conditions for the workers, not take jobs away.

One way to ensure this does not occur is with the Designated Suppliers Program. From the USAS website:

“Under the Designated Suppliers Program, university licensees are
required to source most university logo apparel from supplier factories
that have been determined by universities, through independent
verification, to be in compliance with their obligation to respect the
rights of their employees – including the right to organize and bargain
collectively and the right to be paid a living wage. In order to make
it possible for factories to achieve and maintain compliance, licensees
are required to meet several obligations to their suppliers. Licensees
are required to pay a price to suppliers commensurate with the actual
cost of producing under applicable labor standards, including payment
of a living wage; they are required to maintain long-term relationships
with suppliers; and they are required to ensure that each supplier
factory participating in the program receives sufficient orders so that
the majority of the factory’s production is for the collegiate market.
Licensees may bring any factory they choose into the program, provided
the factory can demonstrate compliance with the program’s labor
standards. The program is phased in over a three year period.”

Forty schools have signed onto supporting the DSP, but UMD has not.
For the past year, Feminism Without Borders has staged letter-writing
campaigns, knit-ins, and events to raise awareness of the sweatshops
that make our university clothing. We’ve sent letters to the University
President, C.D. Mote, who has yet to meet with us. But it is
encouraging that we have gotten responses back from UMD’s licensing
department head, Joe Ebaugh.

The USAS chapter at UMD will not give up and will continue to
pressure UMD’s administration to commit to the DSP. For more
information on the DSP, go to studentsagainstsweatshops.org