[Announce] students against sweatshops

[announce at comm-org.wisc.edu]

From: "Peter Dreier" <dreier at oxy.edu>

Student activism is alive and well. According to a phone call I just 
received from a USC student, 13 USC students are currently sitting-in at 
President Steve Sample's office to demand that USC join 30 others 
universities and colleges to the anti-sweatshop Designated Suppliers 
Program (DSP). Here is the DSP website with a description of the 
anti-sweatshop program and a list of the 30 universities that have 
joined DSP, including the UC system, Columbia, Cornell, Wisconsin, 
U/Conn, Colorado, Brandeis, Skidmore, Smith, Indiana, Miami, Syracuse 
and Iowa. http://www.workersrights.org/dsp.asp  Here is a YouTube video 
about recent USC protests on this issue: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilyuMivc3Nw.  Here is an article I wrote 
in The Nation last year about the DSP. 
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060619/dreier. Below is an email from 
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) about the USC protest.

From: organize at usasnet.org [mailto:organize at usasnet.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 11:01 AM
To: Peter Dreier
Subject: Support USC Students Sitting In For The DSP!

    Support USC Students Sitting In For The DSP!

Support USC Students Sitting In For The DSP!

Dear Professor Peter Dreier,

      For the past 8 years, students at USC have been campaigning to get 
their university to take a stand in support of the workers producing 
their apparel. After nearly a decade, not only has USC not taken action, 
but the president of the university still refuses to even meet with 
students. In response, 15 students have occupied his office and have 
refused to leave until USC affilates with the WRC and adopts the DSP. 
Send a message to President Sample and demand that USC make a commitment 
to workers' rights today!

      In addition to sending him an email, please take 30 seconds to 
give him a call at the following number and demand that USC affiliate 
with the WRC and adopt the DSP!

      (213) 740-2111

      Hello, my name is ___________ and I am a ______________ at 
____________. It is hard to believe that even though students have been 
bringing the issue of USC's dependence on sweatshops to your attention 
for the last eight years, USC has still not made a real commitment to 
workers' rights. 8 years is far too long. Adopt the DSP and affiliate 
with WRC today!



Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
President of USC Steven B. Sample
President of USC Steven Sample

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Eight Years Is Enough!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I am extremely disappointed to hear that, even though students on your 
campus have been brining this issue to your attention for the past eight 
years, the University of Southern California has refused to make a real 
commitment to ensuring that the rights of workers producing your 
licensed apparel are protected. Given that your university claims to 
adhere to a higher standard, I am surprised not only by your lack of 
regard for workers' rights, but for your repeated attempts to silence 
your very own students.

Despite overwhelming student support, USC has refused not only to join 
the thirty-one major universities that have adopted the Designated 
Suppliers Program, which would ensure that university apparel is 
produced in factories in which workers truly have the right to form a 
union and earn a living wage. Not only that, but your university has 
fallen behind the 167 other universities, not to mention the city of Los 
Angeles, that have affiliated with the Worker Ri! ghts Consortium.

Two weeks ago, a worker from one of the factories producing clothes for 
universities spoke on your campus about the ways in which brands like 
Nike cut and run from her factory as soon as workers successfully formed 
a union. Despite this first hand evidence, USC has proven unwilling to 
take the steps necessary to ensure that these brands are held 
accountable for their destructive business practices. By refusing to 
make a real commitment to the rights of the workers producing USC 
apparel, your university is failing to live up to its stated image as a 
first-tier university that has high regard for its students and citizens.

Eight years is long enough. Adopt the DSP and affiliate with the WRC NOW!

Sincerely,

Professor Peter Dreier

   
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What's At Stake:
Despite supposed commitments by universities and brands, university 
apparel is still made in sweatshops. This will continue to be the case 
until brands are forced to make fundamental changes in the way they do 
business. Until brands truly commit to sourcing from factories in which 
the rights of workers are respected, a commitment that includes paying a 
slightly higher price for their goods, university clothes will continue 
to be made in sweatshops. It is for this reason that students have 
demanded, and on thirty campuses won, the adoption of the Designated 
Suppliers Program (DSP). The DSP will require the brands producing 
university apparel to source from factories in which workers have the 
freedom to form a union and earn enough to support a family. In 
addition, it will require these brands to pay enough for their goods to 
make this possible. If you would like to find out more about the DSP, as 
well as how to get more involved, then please go to 
www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org

Campaign Expiration Date:
May 10, 2007

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