Members of the University of Wisconsin Labor Licensing Policy Committee voted Friday to recommend Chancellor Biddy Martin immediately notify UW apparel manufacturer Nike it violated the university’s labor code of conduct by neglecting to pay severances to workers in Honduras.
LLPC members and Martin fiercely debated the necessity of immediate termination of the university’s contract with Nike at the LLPC meeting.
Two factories in Honduras –Vision Tex and Hugger de Honduras — that manufactured Nike products bearing the UW logo, shut down in January without paying $2.1 million in severances owed to its workers.
Since these infringements do not comply with the code of conduct for UW’s licensees, Martin recently wrote a letter to Nike demanding they act to ensure the factory workers receive rightful compensation, as well as provide her with detailed information describing how they will do so.
Although she gave Nike a Nov. 11 deadline to respond, as of Nov. 13, all she had received was a generic statement addressed to all universities in business with Nike. Those attending the meeting, including Martin, did not consider the statement a valid response to her letter, said Jan Van Tol, student LLPC and Student Labor Action Coalition member.
“Basically, Nike is ignoring us. The deadline the chancellor gave Nike to respond has passed, and their statement says absolutely nothing,” Van Tol said. “It is vague, meaningless and serves only to distract from the real issue: Nike owes its workers $2.1 million.”
As he claimed Nike is attempting to stall its action until the university forgets the wrongdoings, Van Tol proposed the university proceed by severing ties through termination of the contract.
Jonah Zinn, student LLPC member and SLAC member, said he believes until Nike’s income is threatened, they will not take the university or the situation seriously.
Chancellor Biddy Martin disagreed.
“It comes down to a question of tactics,” Martin said. “If we threaten them before hearing what they have to say back, we won’t get anywhere. It’s predictable and might not produce the better result.”
Instead, she recommended direct contact with Nike to obtain a clear explanation of their remediation plans.
After Martin had left the meeting, Zinn called for a motion to recommend Martin immediately notify Nike of its breach in the contract, thus initiating the first step toward its termination.
“People’s livelihood’s are in our hands, so we must ensure that all labor codes of conducts are obeyed,” Zinn said.
Since those owed significant amounts of money do not have the luxury of waiting for remediation, the university can not, in good conscience, postpone cutting the contract, said Lydia Zepeda, professor in the School of Human Ecology and LLPC member.
Those who opposed the motion, such as Jonathan Zeitlin, professor in the College of Letters and Sciences and LLPC member, said he thought it would be foolish to compromise Martin’s good will and cooperation, arguing the committee’s unanimous support would be more effective.
After a 7-2 vote in favor of the motion, the committee proposed writing a non-binding letter to Martin explaining what they believe should be her plan of action.
Zepeda said while the committee does not mean any disrespect to Martin, they desire to provide her with leverage and to make certain her timeline is prompt.
