Design of 'A' prompted contract cancellation with company accused of labor abuse

UA became the ninth university to cancel its contract with the baseball-cap manufacturer New Era Cap Company last month, for disagreements over design and not labor issues, officials say.

The company had been contracted with the University of Arizona for more than 18 years and still has contracts with numerous universities, including the other nine members of the Pac-10, as well as Major League Baseball.

New Era has come under fire recently after allegedly mistreating workers now on strike at the company's Derby, N.Y., factory.

But Mike Low, UA director of trademarks and licensing, said the contract was canceled because of disagreements over design.

"New Era produced a design that did not meet our approval and produced it anyway," he said.

Low said the company's rendition of UA's 'A' was "too far outside our realm of preferred graphics."

The design of the "A" was rejected by the university, but the company still produced hats using that design.

In 18 years at his post, Low said he has never encountered a situation where a company used a rejected design, although there have been cases where a company used a design that was later rejected.

While the cancellation was not the result of the alleged labor abuses as in the case of the other eight schools, Students Against Sweatshops - which has protested the university's involvement with other companies it claims use sweatshop labor - considers it a victory.

"New Era is a company that has a really poor labor record," said Tim Bartley, a member of SAS and the UA Senate Task Force for Monitoring Labor and Human Rights Issues. "They have quite a history of really poor labor relations including union busting tactics and sweatshops."

SAS still hopes the recent national focus on New Era Cap Company, which started in August when the Worker Rights Consortium released a report on the Derby plant, will lead to reforms, Bartley said.

"I hope it's a situation that makes sure companies are held accountable for abuses," said Lydia Lester, SAS member.

New Era is also accused of using factories in Asia without informing UA, a direct violation of the Trademark and Licensing Code of Conduct's Labor Code Standards Rider 1, though Low said that was not what caused the cancellation.