Sweatshop labor injustice stirs new activism among college students

by Claire Noonan Bates and Tara K. Dix

A Yale University T-shirt made by the Anvil Company in El Salvador sells at a retail shop for $14.99. The young Salvadoran woman who made this shirt was paid all of three cents, just 2/10 of one percent of the retail price. If she were paid a living wage, there would still be only 11 cents of labor in the shirt, .7 percent of the retail price.

The total labor cost to sew 1,000 T-shirts is $31. They sell for $14,990. To pay a living wage only increases the cost of labor to $110. In other words, Anvil keeps its workers in poverty to save about 80 bucks.

Such is the case for many other producers of collegiate licensed products all over the country, like Fruit of the Loom T-shirts for University of North Carolina, or Delta T-shirts for Purdue. University students are outraged, and have begun a powerful movement called United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). Currently, there are almost 200 USAS chapters around the country asking their university administrators to commit to monitoring the labor practices in the factories that produce its licensed apparel and products.

Over 100 colleges and universities currently associate with the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a government organization designed to monitor labor practices of U.S. corporations. But USAS and labor rights groups say FLA is so stacked with corporate interests that it's a case of the fox watching the chicken coop. Most USAS chapters want their universities to sign on to the Workers' Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to support and verify licensee compliance with production codes of conduct. WRC is developing a network of local organizations in regions where licensed goods are produced, informing workers of their rights and enabling them to report conditions confidentially. The WRC code provides for a living wage, the right to organize and to collective bargaining, workers' health and safety, and women's rights. It prohibits child labor, forced labor, and forced overtime.

The movement is strong at Catholic schools. Official USAS chapters are up and running at Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, DePaul, Holy Cross, Loyola-Chicago, Loyola-New Orleans, Providence, St. Anselm, St. Michael, Dayton, and Wheeling Jesuit. Both Loyolas have joined the WRC. Said Jesuit Fr. John J. Piderit, president of Loyola-Chicago: "The students' knowledge and passion was an impetus for the university to take a decisive stance on this matter." That may be an understatement. Students have staged sit-ins and rallies, and occupied the president's office at Loyola, as they have at Pennsylvania, Michigan, Johns Hopkins, DePaul, and California/Berkeley, among others. At press time, 14 schools had joined the WRC.

And it's not just college students who are taking a stand. Catholic elementary and secondary students are participating in campaigns to ensure fair labor standards for workers who produce their school and athletic uniforms. The Archdiocese of Newark unveiled a plan for consumer action and education in its Catholic schools in 1997. The program identifies manufacturers of Catholic school uniforms and works with the Department of Labor to determine compliance with fair labor standards. The archdiocese then distributes a list of approved vendors. Newark has also developed a religion and social studies curriculum to educate students about worker rights.

Other dioceses are following Newark's lead. Chicago has a K-through-12 curriculum, and will work with the Labor Department to check working conditions for those who produce its elementary school uniforms. High school teachers in San Francisco have convinced their archdiocese to explore the Newark approach for uniforms and athletic equipment in all Catholic high schools.