By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
If ever two opposing groups have talked right past each other, they'd have to be Students Against Sweatshops and the UA administration, headed by UA President Peter Likins. They talk to each other, they talk to students, they talk to assorted labor rights groups, but apparently no one is listening.
What both SAS and Likins need to do, instead of holding numerous closed-door meetings, is call a public forum at which Fair Labor Association and Worker Rights Coalition spokespeople as well SAS members and Likins can speak directly and openly to each other and to students.
Last week a WRC member came to campus and spoke with SAS members and non-affiliated students and Likins, but in separate meetings. What did the WRC official say? UA should withdraw from the FLA and become a sole member of the WRC. Surprise!
Next week, an FLA representative is coming to campus and he'll likely do the reverse - advise the UA to remain in the FLA. The Wildcat's news desk could probably write the story before it happens.
"FLA member advises Likins to remain in FLA," the headline would read. And students and SAS members and Likins would all be terribly surprised, again.
Likins and SAS have been tossing around the WRC-FLA issue since the infamous sit-in of April 1999. That led to the promise by Likins to withdraw from the FLA if they had not met four requirements. The FLA didn't, but contrary to Likins' promise, the UA stuck with 'em.
Out of a compromise came the UA's dual membership in the FLA and WRC, but this has not pleased both parties. SAS still thinks Likins broke his word or is just plain ignoring them. Likins still thinks otherwise.
Protest, promise made, promise broken. Back and forth, back and forth. It's like a drawn-out tennis match. Where's a line judge when you need one?
This metaphor-stretched-too-thin brings us to a salient point. Students should serve as judges in this seemingly endless match, and a public forum would give them a chance to do just that. Perhaps students aren't listening to this verbal tug-of-war because they don't care. Perhaps, sweatshops are not an issue that students consider important
This, however, would be easy enough to gauge by student turnout to the proposed forum. Of course, the 40 people who showed up for the WRC talk last week serve as a harbinger of low turnout. Still, if no one shows up, it stands to reason that no one cares, and perhaps labor practices in economically underdeveloped nations should be dropped as a collegiate issue.
Of course, the opposite could happen, and Likins might learn that students are opposed to the FLA, just as SAS has preached from day one.
Another advantage to having a public forum at which all parties would be present is that we could get all sides of the issue out in the open, side by side for student body scrutiny and judgment. It would be like having a boxing-match to see just who is the heavyweight champion of the world. It would be the "Rumble in the Desert." Maybe not.
At any rate, maybe we could get off this merry-go-round of labor discussion.
Or, maybe we could have a sit-in.
This editorial represents the collaborative stance of the Arizona Daily Wildcat Opinions Board.
