Viewpoint: SOLE demands wage disclosure and accountability
Kristin McRay and Mike SwirynMarch 25th, 2004
Sweatshops did not go away. Student activists at the University
and across the country have fought hard for six years to make sure
University clothing is made in livable conditions, from Los Angeles
to Indonesia. At the University, students have pushed for a whole
system to address the reality that our clothes are made in
sweatshops, and administrators and faculty have been supportive,
but it’s time to take the next step: wage disclosure.
Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality has led the way
to a code of conduct in every licensing contract, the full public
disclosure of every factory where University clothes are made and
the University’s membership in the Worker Rights Consortium
(a Non-Governmental Organization that works for universities to
monitor the conditions under which our clothing is made).
This has led to real change for workers. In Kukdong, Mexico,
workers making University clothing for Nike fought for an
independent union, and they were successful in part because the WRC
investigated the factory, and the University acted to uphold our
ethics as a public institution. This change has come to an apparel
factory in the Dominican Republic with 2,500 workers, as well as a
factory in Jakarta, Indonesia, called PT Dada.
That is a start, but sweatshops did not go away. Kukdong is
still a sweatshop. According to the WRC, the workers at PT Dada are
still unable to meet their basic needs and those of their children.
Wages are at the center of this problem, and wage disclosure is at
the center of a solution.
To truly enforce The University’s code of conduct, SOLE
demands that:
-The University adopt a public and written wage disclosure
requirement for all licensees.
-To initiate this process, the advisory committee to University
President Mary Sue Coleman must make this recommendation following
its meeting on March 26.
-The first step the University will take will be to send letters
to the top 10 licensees by April 5, notifying them of the wage
disclosure requirement and beginning a process to address
concerns.
The disclosure of factory locations led to the real change that
has happened in these few factories thus far, even though it is far
from perfect. Wage disclosure information will be imperfect but
must be the first step toward a wage for apparel workers that truly
does cover basic needs — in other words, a fair wage. You
might call it wage justice.
Nike has never admitted that its apparel is produced in
sweatshops, but we all know that it is. Workers say so, students
who visit the factories say so, the WRC says so. When companies
disclose wages, this same public scrutiny will apply to the
information, and the information will help the University enforce
its code of conduct and allow workers to better their own working
conditions, without risk of misinterpretation.
When asked about wages and the idea of making them public, a
worker at a factory called Kolon Langgeng in Indonesia said,
“I think it would be good for everyone to see information
about how little we make for how hard we work … we work
until we are tired to the bone, but it’s not enough to cover
even our basic needs. Perhaps if others knew the reality of our
wages it would help us in raising our wages to a more humane
level.”
On March 26, we hope the committee will make a recommendation to
Coleman in favor of wage disclosure. Let it be in favor of
transparency. Let it be in favor of an end to sweatshops.
Sweatshops did not go away, so let it be in favor of wage
justice.
McRay and Swiryn are members of SOLE. McRay sits on the
Committee for Labor Standards and Human Rights. McRay is an LSA
junior and Swiryn is an LSA senior.
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Sat, 26 May 2012 19:18:43 -0400