Students protest Nike, Likins travels to labor rights forum

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat History professor Reeve Houston (left) and neuro science graduate student Arne Ekstrom protest the UA's endorsement of corporations that use sweatshop labor yesterday on the mall. Ekstrom is the president of Students Against Sweatshops, which was collecting signatures to petition the UA's association with companies that use sweatshop labor.

Students Against Sweatshops, the University of Arizona's labor rights watchdog, denounced a clause in the university's contract with Nike that doesn't require an independent inspector to monitor its factories in southeast Asia.

"Today we're just trying to let it be known that we're still opposed to the Nike contract," said Molly Snow, a speech and hearing sciences junior and Students Against Sweatshops member. "We just want to let it be known that even though there is a code of conduct clause in the contract, the problem is that, in the past, the monitors have always been on Nike's payroll."

As demonstrators rallied on the UA Mall, Likins was in Washington D.C., preparing for today's forum on combating sweatshop labor. Likins is one of several panelists in the forum, titled "No Sweat University: Labor Standards and Codes of Conduct," sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

"Peter Likins has shown real leadership and has really taken an active interest in this (worker's rights)," said Carl Fillichio, a Secretary of Labor's office official.

The forum aims to teach students, college administrators and university licensing officials how to successfully develop and implement code of conduct agreements, Fillichio said.

Students Against Sweatshops oppose a code of conduct clause in Nike's contract that states the University of Arizona and the athletic apparel company have to agree on a monitor. It does not specify that the monitor be independent from Nike.

"The big problem we have with the code of conduct clause is that Nike won't have a suitable monitor," Snow said.

The 40-member group is shifting its focus to other areas, now that the contract is signed, Snow said.

Students Against Sweatshops has also opposed the sale of baseball caps made by Korean-owned BJ&B, a company known for poor labor practices, she said.

"I personally don't feel I can support a company that doesn't care about its workers," Snow said. "I think a public university has no business associating themselves with companies that have such horrible labor practices."

During the noon demonstration, group members asked about 200 onlookers to sign petitions condemning the code of conduct clause and BJ&B's labor practices.

"We just have to demand to the UA to take a stand," said Arne Ekstrom, president of the UA chapter of Students Against Sweatshops, a national organization.

History professor Reeve Hueston, Latin American studies professor Raquel Goldsmith and Leslie Gates, a sociology graduate student and labor rights activist, spoke at the event.

Gates, who has educated workers in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico about their rights, said the UA's contract with Nike is "short-sighted."

"International solidarity can make a difference," Gates said. Workers in third world countries need international support, she added.

Ekstrom, a neuroscience graduate student, said by not requiring Nike to hire independent monitors, corporate accounting firms could be called to do the job. He questioned the willingness of such a firm, which could be paid millions of dollars by Nike, to fairly evaluate working conditions in Indonesian and Vietnamese factories.

"We're sick of hearing lies from these companies," Ekstrom said.

Students watching the demonstration both supported and ridiculed the activists.

"I'm here because of the exploitation of workers and the selling out of the university I pay to go to school to," said Oliver Deighton, an undeclared sophomore. "It's sick - it's a blatant display of the evils of capitalism."

Nat Johnson, a philosophy and Spanish junior, said he is unsure what to think.

"When it comes down to it , everything (in business) is so interconnected that it's hard to determine who's being good and who's being bad," he said. "I applaud them (Students Against Sweatshops) if what they're doing is right, but if they're oversimplifying an issue - that's a mistake."

Joe Gallego, an aerospace engineering junior, said he disagrees with Students Against Sweatshops' stance.

"The real problem is those countries with labor laws that permit these things," Gallego said. "You've got to realize that Nike is a corporation and their whole point is to make money. You can't fault them for doing it."

Michael Lafleur can be reached via e-mail at Michael.Lafleur@wildcat.arizona.edu.