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Tuesday September 12, 2000

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Faculty senators urge Likins to remain in FLA

Headline Photo

AARON FARNSWORTH

UA president Peter Likins speaks during the Faculty / Senate meeting at the College of Law yesterday afternoon. Likins addressed the positive changes the university has undergone since becoming UA's president four years ago.

By Ryan Gabrielson

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Labor rights task force won't change recommendation to belong only to WRC

A handful of Faculty Senate members yesterday voiced their support for the university to remain a member of the Fair Labor Association, a move supported by UA President Peter Likins.

This support contradicted the recommendation of the University of Arizona Human and Labor Rights Task Force, which recommended on Aug. 1 that the UA leave the FLA. Both the task force and Students Against Sweatshops want Likins to leave the FLA, a move that would leave the Workers Rights Consortium as the university's sole labor rights monitoring organization.

Following Likins' Aug. 30 meeting with the task force - in which he expressed his desire to remain in the FLA - the task force voted to arrange a meeting between Likins and Students Against Sweatshops to discuss the resolution that both parties signed in April 1999.

Likins responded that "we are exploring" when a meeting could be scheduled.

On Aug. 1, the task force submitted its recommendation that the UA withdraw from the FLA - which would end its dual membership with both the FLA and the WRC.

The task force found that the FLA had not adopted the four mandates - independent factory monitoring, women's rights, full disclosure of factory locations and the creation of a living wage - laid out in the resolution that ended a 10-day sit-in by SAS members in Likins' office. Therefore, the task force recommended that the UA withdraw from the FLA, said Andrew Silverman, a faculty senator and task force member.

While the FLA has not adopted all of the mandates, some faculty senators argued that the FLA has made substantial progress toward independent factory monitoring.

"Clearly, the FLA has made progress," said Silverman, who is also a law professor. "We have a new playing field."

Though members of SAS have repeatedly stated their objections to remaining in the FLA - since it goes against the recommendations of the task force - Sen. Tom Davis said that leaving the FLA now may be a premature decision.

"It appears to me that they're making a good effort," said Davis, a pharmacology professor. "(The UA should) have patience in good faith effort."

Larry Schooley, faculty senator and professor of electrical and computer engineering, said when the April 1999 agreement was signed, university officials didn't understand the issue as well as they do now.

"The playing field has changed," Schooley agreed.

He added that the FLA has made progress, and remaining a member of the association may be "better than sticking to the commitments signed almost two years ago."

While several faculty senators expressed interest in staying in the FLA, Silverman said the task force won't change its recommendations. He added that they are waiting to see what comes of Likins' meeting with SAS members.

"We are seeking to accomplish the same goals," Likins said. "We're having a constructive influence on a global problem."

Likins cited progress the UA has made in accordance with the resolution as one reason to remain affiliated with the FLA.

"Every one of the 600 (producers of UA apparel) had their contracts revised for disclosure," he said. "The territory we are seeking to deal with is daunting."

A speaker series of people involved with both the WRC and the FLA is slated to begin in the next few months, Silverman said. Rich Appelbaum, a member of the WRC governing board, would be the first speaker, and Sam Brown, executive director of the FLA, would speak in October or November.


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