University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley will announce his position on wage disclosure to the Labor Licensing Committee today at Bascom Hall.

The meeting will be headed by Lamar Billups, Wiley’s special assistant to licensing matters. Billups will not vote on the committee, which is made up of faculty, staff and students.

If Wiley decides in favor of wage disclosure, UW will hold all licensees accountable for revealing the wages of laborers for the more than 3,300 factories that produce merchandise with the official UW logos and name. In that case, the university would most likely use the Workers’ Rights Consortium to monitor wages, a group UW already contracts to ensure satisfactory factory conditions at UW producing plants. Under current WRC contracts, companies must sign to become official UW licensees, imposing certain regulations and preventing outstandingly low pay practices and bad working conditions.

Student Labor Action Coalition, a student organization committed to workers’ rights, has been working for wage disclosure in recent months, saying it will help prevent “sweatshop”-type practices.

University spokespeople said UW is “committed with student leadership,” both on LLC and SLAC. However, if UW endorses wage disclosure, the timeframe for companies to negotiate new riders to the 400-plus companies making UW paraphernalia could take longer than expected.

Such delays could stem from different costs of living in the countries factories are in, the skills needed for a position, and the difference in pay per hour or per number of things processed.

The LLC proposed to have wage disclosure by the companies on a quarterly basis.