Lend a helping hand
Universities should help improve factories abroad
By: Editorial Board
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Opinion
Members of Student Action with Workers highlighted a crucial issue for the international community Thursday when they rallied for University officials to terminate licensing contracts with companies that don't comply with fair labor standards.
They requested compliance with the Designated Suppliers Program, a plan that guarantees the rights of workers who produce university apparel, which Chancellor James Moeser declined to join last August.
After a two-year review of the merits of DSP, Moeser correctly concluded that there are too many unresolved issues regarding its efficacy.
Regardless, the program remains an innovative way to approach the issue of sweatshop labor and has the potential to improve working conditions if certain revisions are made.
There is a general consensus that sweatshops are an egregious violation of international human rights standards. However, policymakers have a more difficult time agreeing on how to remedy this problem.
The human toll of sweatshops is alarming. Factory workers in developing countries are subjected to all manner of inhumane conditions.
But certain provisions of the DSP could actually do more harm than good.
DSP policy mandates that universities license only to factories that comply with recognized labor standards such as collective bargaining and paying living wages.
Licensees that sign on to DSP are likely to end relations with factories in countries such as China and Vietnam because they don't meet international labor standards, thus causing factories to shut down and workers to lose their jobs.
In countries such as Bangladesh - where manufacturing apparel accounts for 70 percent of the country's exports, workers in export processing zones aren't able to unionize and there aren't alternative forms of employment - the DSP could spell disaster for the economy.
It would be better for both the workers and the developing countries if universities and the companies they license with worked with the factory owners in developing countries to bring working conditions up to international standards.
One way to do that would be to deploy workers to train factory managers on workers' rights. Auret van Heerden, president and CEO of the Fair Labor Association, said that in his travels to factories producing college apparel, he was shocked by how few of them have human resource officers.
But despite the kinks in the system, UNC shouldn't halt all efforts to take a stand against labor rights abuses.
Moeser has said that the University will pursue other means in lieu of DSP to sever its ties with sweatshop labor.
We encourage University officials to continue to be aware of labor issues and to consider implementing DSP once it determines that it can effectively improve workers' conditions abroad without costing their jobs.
They requested compliance with the Designated Suppliers Program, a plan that guarantees the rights of workers who produce university apparel, which Chancellor James Moeser declined to join last August.
After a two-year review of the merits of DSP, Moeser correctly concluded that there are too many unresolved issues regarding its efficacy.
Regardless, the program remains an innovative way to approach the issue of sweatshop labor and has the potential to improve working conditions if certain revisions are made.
There is a general consensus that sweatshops are an egregious violation of international human rights standards. However, policymakers have a more difficult time agreeing on how to remedy this problem.
The human toll of sweatshops is alarming. Factory workers in developing countries are subjected to all manner of inhumane conditions.
But certain provisions of the DSP could actually do more harm than good.
DSP policy mandates that universities license only to factories that comply with recognized labor standards such as collective bargaining and paying living wages.
Licensees that sign on to DSP are likely to end relations with factories in countries such as China and Vietnam because they don't meet international labor standards, thus causing factories to shut down and workers to lose their jobs.
In countries such as Bangladesh - where manufacturing apparel accounts for 70 percent of the country's exports, workers in export processing zones aren't able to unionize and there aren't alternative forms of employment - the DSP could spell disaster for the economy.
It would be better for both the workers and the developing countries if universities and the companies they license with worked with the factory owners in developing countries to bring working conditions up to international standards.
One way to do that would be to deploy workers to train factory managers on workers' rights. Auret van Heerden, president and CEO of the Fair Labor Association, said that in his travels to factories producing college apparel, he was shocked by how few of them have human resource officers.
But despite the kinks in the system, UNC shouldn't halt all efforts to take a stand against labor rights abuses.
Moeser has said that the University will pursue other means in lieu of DSP to sever its ties with sweatshop labor.
We encourage University officials to continue to be aware of labor issues and to consider implementing DSP once it determines that it can effectively improve workers' conditions abroad without costing their jobs.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Salma Mirza
posted 11/16/07 @ 10:45 PM EST
"DTH Editorial Exhibits a Fundamental Misunderstanding of the Sweatshop Issue"
To the Editor:
I appreciate the concern that the editorial board expressed for the struggles of sweatshop workers who manufacture UNC-CH licensed apparel in ?Lend a Helping Hand? (DTH 11-14-2007). (Continued…)
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