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Flash mob calls for Adidas split
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by Ken Harris
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Drawing confused looks from passers-by Wednesday afternoon on Library Mall at the University of Wisconsin, a crowd of about 50 students stood still in various poses for five minutes as the latest flashmob on campus.
The flashmob was organized by the Student Labor Action Committee to draw the attention of UW Chancellor John Wiley and pressure him to end the licensing contract between UW and Adidas.
“He’s refused to meet with us, so we just have to try to get him to know in as many ways as we can,” SLAC member Phoebe Taurick said.
Flashmob participants milled around between Memorial Library and University Bookstore until the signal was given at 12:15 p.m. to freeze. They all selected poses and held them for five minutes.
Jan Van Tol, a member of SLAC and the UW Labor Licensing Policy Committee that advises the chancellor on licensing issues, said he thought the flashmob was successful in making a strong statement.
“I think it was definitely successful,” Van Tol said. “I heard a lot of people asking about it and wondering what we were doing.”
However, several observers disagreed.
“It’s really eye-catching and gets peoples’ attention,” UW senior Danielle Russell said. “I’m not sure that what they’re doing is really getting their purpose across.”
Russell added while the group had a 4-foot by 3-foot photo of Wiley, they did not explain the connection.
Todd Tannenbaum, UW computer sciences researcher, also said he did not think the demonstration was an effective way to make a point.
“Considering I had no idea what they were trying to convey until someone told me, probably not,” Tannenbaum said.
According to Van Tol, Adidas is guilty of workers’ rights abuses at a now-closed factory in Hermosa, El Salvador that Adidas used for production. He said Adidas has dragged its feet for years in the effort to improve the situation for the workers.
Van Tol said SLAC might be satisfied if the chancellor does not just recommend but demands Adidas meets the benchmarks set by the Labor Licensing Policy Committee to provide jobs for the unemployed in Hermosa at a certain rate.
“We want timelines, we want numbers and a credible threat of a contract cut to back it up,” Van Tol said. “We want UW to make clear to whoever it contracts next, it must follow a code of conduct.”
Dawn Crim, special assistant to the chancellor, said Adidas is making efforts to improve the situation in Hermosa. She added while Adidas was not the only company working in the plant when it closed, it is the only company doing anything to try to help the workers.
“The way our contracts are set up we give our companies an opportunity to remedy the problem,” Crim said.
Van Tol said Wiley does not want to cut the Adidas contract because it is worth so much, unlike the New Era contract Wiley cut earlier this year.
According to Crim this is not the case.
“There is no contract that we have with a brand that we would not contemplate cancelling a license,” Crim said.
Crim added while the apparel industry is “a bad industry” because it is exploitive, “being engaged with companies has a far greater impact on an industry than cutting a tie.”
She said UW did a good thing by severing ties with New Era but the company is still producing hats for many other schools and organizations, adding “the cancelling of the contract has had little to no impact.”
In response to Van Tol’s assertion, Crim said Wiley is “hesitant to do anything really significant in his last few months” as chancellor.
“He would not be engaging the CEO of a global company if he did not care about the issue,” she said.
— Becky Vevea contributed to this report.
Anonymous (April 17, 2008 @ 9:17am):
If you really want to make a statement, why don't you focus on the problems here in the US...
Anonymous (April 17, 2008 @ 9:54am):
Taurick, I have your shirt. Shouldn't leave your clothes layin around.
Anonymous (April 17, 2008 @ 11:45am):
"If you really want to make a statement, why don't you focus on the problems here in the US..."
There's problems everywhere, and SLAC tries to use its limited resources to address problems both locally and globally in the most efficient and effective way possible.
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