Committee looks into labor
By: Caroline Dye, Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: State & National
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The Licensing Labor Code Advisory Committee invited Scott Nova, executive director of the independent labor monitoring group Worker Rights Consortium, to speak at its meeting on Tuesday.
New Era Cap, a company licensed to produce University apparel, has been in conflict with the WRC about the company's alleged interference in workers' efforts to unionize.
The committee is taking a closer look at the labor code it requires companies to follow. Nova offered advice on how the University could make its licensing requirements more effective.
"The factories operate under tremendous price pressure," he said, explaining that companies therefore have an incentive to cut costs by lowering labor standards.
"The factories that generally want to do the right thing are punished," he said, pointing out that higher labor costs make companies less competitive.
Nova suggested that UNC limit the number of companies to which it licenses its logo and narrow the number of factories producing its merchandise to those with high labor standards.
"Fewer factories and fewer licensees are better," he said. "We may be at a point where factories have to be cut off."
Nova also broached the idea of University bookstores selling a line of more expensive "fair labor" apparel modeled after "fair trade" coffee sold at coffee shops.
Donald Hornstein, co-chairman of the advisory committee, supported the idea of a fair labor line in the campus bookstore, explaining that more conventional efforts, such as university licensing codes, have not been particularly successful.
"The effects overall have been marginal at best," he said.
Besides the WRC, UNC is also affiliated with the Fair Labor Association, a monitoring group that includes businesses in its constituency.
"In past meetings there has been interest in seeing representatives from the FLA and the WRC," said Derek Lochbaum, co-chairman of the advisory committee.
Lochbaum invited Nova to come speak on behalf of the WRC and said an FLA representative is scheduled to attend the committee's April 15 meeting.
Hornstein said that both organizations recognize the problem of widespread labor violations but that they are likely to approach the problem differently.
Nova also spoke to students at a meeting sponsored by Student Action with Workers, a student labor rights organization.
Sophomore Elvira Jasarevic came to find out more about the labor practices of the factories producing her clothing. "I just want to make sure I know what I'm wearing."
SAW hoped to see Chancellor James Moeser at the advisory committee meeting to demonstrate his commitment to workers rights, said senior Salma Mirza. However, Moeser was not in attendance.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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