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SAS publicly announces support of Workers Rights Consortium

Following one month of deliberation, the UA branch of Students Against Sweatshops yesterday endorsed the Workers Rights Consortium, a factory monitoring program that would offer an alternative to the Fair Labor Association.

The University of Arizona is a member of the FLA, a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor that has been accused of being an inactive agency that essentially turns its back on the workers it exists to protect.

The Workers Rights Consortium - developed by United Students Against Sweatshops to replace the FLA - requires that all member universities withdraw from or denounce the labor group.

"I know that (UA President Peter) Likins wants to work within the FLA," said Lydia Lester, SAS spokesperson and a linguistics sophomore. "If it turns out not to be ineffective, he will have to seek another viable alternative."

Likins was unavailable for comment last night, but has stated in the past that he has confidence in the abilities of the FLA.

SAS members have said the WRC is a superior monitoring program, but the university will remain affiliated with the FLA, as agreed upon by Likins and SAS last April following a 10-day sit-in at the president's office lobby.

The newly formed UA Labor Rights Taskforce will determine whether the FLA is meeting the requirements set forth by the April resolution.

The association is required to meet certain labor rights standards - particularly full disclosure of factory locations and independent monitoring - before a series of deadlines.

SAS decided to back the monitoring plan at their Nov. 11 meeting, and the announcement was held off so it could coincide with Labor Solidarity Day -organized by the National Student Labor Alliance.

Avery Kolers, SAS member and philosophy graduate student, said the majority of the group's members fully backed the WRC.

"We reaffirmed our support of the consortium," Kolers said.

Group members said the WRC would work differently than the FLA by going straight to the workers.

"The WRC, unlike the FLA, emphasizes worker empowerment through freedom of association and collective bargaining," an SAS press release stated.

By putting power in the workers hands, the WRC would be able to respond directly to a new "fire-alarm" method of monitoring. Monitors from the WRC would arrive unannounced and inspect the site.

Another difference between the FLA and the WRC would be representation on the organization's board of directors. The FLA allows corporations to hold positions on the board, which the United Students Against Sweatshops said could lead the FLA to become a "smoke screen for human rights infractions."

The NSLA is an organization made up of students and workers at 20 universities nationwide including Brown, Stanford and Duke. While the UA branch has no affiliation with the student group, they wished to support the NSLA's cause.

"It was hard to put something together, we got the information last minute," Lester said.

To honor the "day of action," the SAS will be handing out informational leaflets.