By
Shana Heiser
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Interaction with young workers gives U.S. students new perspective
After spending five days with factory workers in Mexico, 16 members from United Students Against Sweatshops returned to America late Monday with new perceptions and a joint plan to help workers form an independent union.
"We found out they're just like us," said Rachel Wilson, spokeswoman for University of Arizona's SAS chapter. "The leaders of their union were a group of 17-year-old(s), and the 'old woman' is this 28-year-old who acts as everyone's mother."
USAS developed a "very specific plan" of action that could not be entirely disclosed, Wilson said, but she offered an outline of what will happen.
"Our plan is to disrupt Nike's business in a way that it's never experienced before, which will hopefully get them to bully the Mexican government," Wilson said. "It requires the element of surprise."
Factory workers and supporters in the United States are concerned the Mexican government will not grant recognition to the independent union for "political reasons."
"The idea is to put pressure on Nike and Reebok at that moment so that the recognition is granted," Wilson said. "Reebok and Nike control the textile industry in that area, so they have the economic power."
USAS and workers at Nike's Kukdong factory discussed their respective plans so they could coordinate action. Representatives from University of California-Berkeley, San Jose State University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Georgetown University, among other schools, joined Wilson at Kukdong, the Atlixco, Mexico factory where workers staged a protest in January.
"A lot of the schools have a Nike contract, and Nike's a pretty big presence on campus," said Sara Todd, a biology senior and SAS member at the University of Kentucky. "There are things that we can do, not that we want our contract broken - that's something that USAS is battling with as a whole."
The trust USAS members built with the workers in Mexico helped the workers understand that the support from their neighbors to the north is real.
"The union leaders knew we existed, but the actual rank-and-file workers didn't know we existed," Wilson said. "When we first met the worker leaders, they were nervous but hopeful. By the end of our weekend there, they knew us well and didn't have any doubts that we would be with them in their struggle to the end."
When Wilson, Todd and other students helped hand out fliers promoting the independent union to the workers, security officers did not interrupt them.
"They're trying to get people to join their union, a membership drive, and they're having trouble because they're scared it's not going to work," Wilson said. "They've tried to hand out fliers in the morning when people are heading to work, but they get chased away by security guards. We showed up with the workers and no one chased us away."
The sweatshop workers were able to form a relationship with the USAS members, Todd said, which made the trip more memorable for her.
"Being able to see them outside the title of sweatshop worker, I was able to realize that they are real people," Todd said. "We were just these students that they heard about in the U.S., but they were unsure if it was true. Once they put a face to our names, it was a pretty big deal for them."
Because they established better methods of communication this weekend, USAS members will be able to strategize with the workers about their imminent campaign for independent union recognition.
"There are two (unions) right now-the one is illegitimate, a government union that the workers were forced to sign membership into, and there's the independent," Todd said. "Legally, it should be easy to do, because they have the freedom to organize, but since that industry is so corrupt, the local government and the factory management are able to break laws and rules."
"Nike and Reebok have a lot of power in this region because they have a lot of sub-contractor facilities," Wilson said. "The Mexican government takes credit for the fact that they're there. We're going to put pressure on Nike, Reebok and our university administration."
