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Students press for better working conditions for licensed
apparel
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| By Tom Breen, Journal
Inquirer |
March 09,
2005 |
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| HARTFORD -- On the same day as the final
game of the Big East women's basketball tournament, college students
came to the state Capitol to urge the General Assembly to pass a law
requiring Connecticut's public colleges to purchase and sell
licensed merchandise made in what they called "civilized"
workplaces. |
Testifying before the Labor and Public Employees Committee,
the students wore homemade T-shirts emblazoned with the names of
their institutions, saying they would not wear garments manufactured
under sweatshop conditions.
The bill, if
passed in its current form, would institute some of the toughest
standards in the nation for state colleges and other public
institutions that purchase clothing or laundry services.
The
legislation would require clothing manufacturers contracting with
state agencies to provide a "non-poverty wage" to employees, let
unions organize, and limit workweeks to 48 hours over six
days.
The bill also would require companies to prove that
employees are free from harassment or discriminatory policies, along
with forced overtime.
To secure compliance, the bill would
require each state agency or public college to hire "a competent
nonprofit independent monitoring organization" to monitor conditions
at the factories. Companies found in violations of the bill's
provisions could lose their state contracts.
Although the
bill would affect institutions other than colleges, college students
have been particularly active in the effort, in part because
officially licensed college merchandise can be both a big part of
campus life and a significant source of revenue for
schools.
"It's not acceptable that our tax dollars and our
university dollars are perpetuating the global crisis of sweatshop
labor," Central Connecticut State University student Caitlynne
Palmieri told lawmakers Tuesday.
Garment workers in many
countries often work between 70 and 100 hours a week for as little
as 11 cents an hour, which is the prevailing wage in India. Critics
describe working conditions as deplorable, with violence and
intimidation used to prevent workers from protesting their treatment
or forming unions.
Much of the attention in the campaign has
focused on the University of Connecticut, which makes more money
from its merchandise than other state schools and which already has
taken steps to dictate the conditions under which its apparel is
made.
UConn made about $1 million in royalties from clothing
and other merchandise last year, helped by its high-profile sports
programs.
In 2000, the university joined an independent
watchdog group called the Workers Rights Consortium to monitor
conditions in the factories where licensed merchandise is
made.
Sarah Kowaleski, a UConn student active in the current
campaign, praised the university bookstore for recently agreeing to
create a "sweat-free zone" in its campus stores.
The UConn
Co-Op, which is owned by its members and sells textbooks along with
university merchandise and other items, has agreed to set up a
portion of the store where union-made garments will be sold and
literature on sweatshops will be distributed, Kowaleski
said.
"I am proud my university has sports teams with such
great reputations," Kowaleski said. "We need to use our reputation
to set an example for other universities."
Some of the
students who spoke Tuesday at the Capitol acknowledged that the
bill, which if passed would be the sixth of its kind in the nation,
does not provide a solution for all the ills associated with
sweatshop labor.
In particular, they noted that there is
little in the measure besides the monitoring agencies to ensure
compliance from manufacturers, and said that monitoring groups often
have a hard time getting concrete information from garment
companies.
"I don't think it's the solution to the entire
problem," Western Connecticut State University student Colin Cascia
said. "That's going to have to come from the people, not from the
top down."
Still, they said the bill would be a leap forward
for workers in the multibillion-dollar university garment
industry.
"Taking it to this level is definitely a step in
the right direction," said Scott Novakowski of Vernon, a graduate
student at the University of Connecticut's School of Social
Work.
Although the bill would only affect public
institutions, students from private universities such as Yale and
Wesleyan also spoke at the Capitol, along with students from UConn,
the Connecticut State University system's schools, and some
community colleges.
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| ©Journal
Inquirer 2005 |
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