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Editorial: SAS should stand by labor resolution with Likins

Then UA President Peter Likins and Students Against Sweatshops' members reached an agreement last spring, it was decided - by both parties - that the university would have 15 months to determine its future partnership with the Fair Labor Association.

Now, more than five months before the 15-month deadline is up, SAS is jumping the gun on its own agreement.

On April 30, Likins signed a labor rights resolution that ended a 10-day sit-in staged by SAS. As a part of the agreement, the UA would withdraw from the FLA if it does not put four provisions - full factory disclosure, creation of a living wage, protection of human rights, and unannounced factory inspections - in its code of conduct.

Likins and SAS members mutually agreed on Aug. 1 as the deadline for the FLA - a U.S. labor group that will monitor companies that produce items overseas - to accomplish these changes.

Instead of the FLA, SAS is asking Likins to consider the Worker's Rights Consortium - a student-founded worker's rights monitoring organization - as a replacement.

This might be a beneficial switch for UA and overseas factories, but the difference between the FLA and the WRC is not the important factor in the latest SAS demands.

Rather, after a 10-day protest in Likins' office and months of progress, SAS is undermining the terms of the resolution.

This is simply bad business. Especially for an organization like SAS that has prided itself in being open with its concerns.

"We're not expecting (Likins) to say no," SAS spokeswoman and psychology graduate student Rachel Wilson said yesterday.

"The rally is to celebrate, or it's an action to show him we're serious."

Likins taking the SAS seriously? Didn't he already do that last spring when he openly negotiated with the protesters for more than a week?

Of course, the answer is yes. SAS fought, won the battle and set the terms. The students should realize this and wait out the resolution.

With the recent withdrawal by the University of Pennsylvania from the FLA, UA protesters may feel the hunger to stay at the forefront of the movement.

While understandable, the actions of SAS are premature.

"The point is that the WRC doesn't have corporations and that's the difference between the FLA and the WRC," Wilson said.

This is probably a valid point and one that needs to be addressed in the near future. But the near future is not today.

Likins gave SAS - and the UA community - his word that he would make sure the FLA improved its code of conduct, or the UA would withdraw its participation.

Demanding him to do so - and thus undermining the resolution - five months ahead of schedule is not a good step for SAS.

It only shows that the organization may be concerned about sweatshops and unfair labor practices, but not good negotiation practices.