The University of Wisconsin will assemble various
representatives from national and international arenas deeply
involved in the topic of collegiate apparel licensee conduct.
<p>”The Labor Behind the Label” is a UW-sponsored event
taking place today and Thursday at the Pyle Center that will
discuss the issues of workers’ rights, full wage disclosure and the
right to organize unions of licensees.
<p>Conference organizer LaMarr Billups, special assistant
to UW Chancellor John Wiley, said this forum is intended to inform
students and university administrators in Madison and nationally
about the concerns of manufacturing university-branded apparel.
<p>”This is going to be an overview of what the whole
issue (of licensee labor practices) is about,” Billups said. “There
are many people who are interested but not knowledgeable.”
<p>The conference will gather representation from Adidas,
one of UW’s 10 largest licensees; the Worker Rights Consortium,
UW’s agent in labor relations; and the Fair Labor Association, an
organization for workers’ rights. All will be involved in a
question-and-answer forum Wednesday at 7 p.m. mediated by UW rural
sociology professor Jane Collins.
<p>Aside from academic, advocate and labor representation,
Billups also said Jonathan Rosenblum, a local attorney specializing
in labor issues, will be present.
<p>Billups said UW decided to host the conference because
of its ongoing commitment to satisfactory working conditions. He
added other colleges such as the University of Michigan and
Georgetown University have been watching UW’s motions and are
following in its footsteps, especially on the issue of full wage
disclosure, which asks all licensees and factories to reveal what
workers receive for pay and benefits. UW decided to ask this of its
more than 450 official licensees and more than 3,300 factories in
February.
<p>”If they haven’t already approved [full wage
disclosure], they’re about to do it,” Billups said. “They were
waiting for someone to kick things off, and we did it.”
<p>Billups also said UW sent letters out to its top 10
licensees this week, asking them to find some sort of agreement on
how to process the data resulting from full wage disclosure. Under
the code of conduct, UW requires factories to pay the legal minimum
wage or the prevailing industrial wage in the area, whichever is
higher.
<p>Billups also added that a major issue involved with
labor relations is the ability to organize bargaining groups and
labor unions, a requirement in UW’s code of conduct, even though
full wage disclosure receives a lot of press.
<p>”Wages are one of the least complained-about [issues],”
Billups said. “The highest amount of complaints are the right to
association and organize.”
<p>Samantha Ashley, a UW senior and Student Labor Action
Coalition member often involved with UW’s Labor Licensing and
Policy Committee, said she is excited UW decided to host such a
conference and also believes this will raise discussion about labor
around UW and the nation.
<p>”That’s definitely one of the goals of the conference,”
Ashley said.
<p>Ashley also said discussion among factories that do not
comply with the code of conduct is necessary because if UW cuts
their contracts, the factories will be able to continue in their
poor practices.
<p>”We’re definitely very interested that all the
factories comply … but [we need to use the contract’s] influence
to advocate for improvement,” Ashley said. “It will work to make
conditions better.”
<p>Billups and Ashley also said one of the big talking
points of the conference will be how to develop with solutions
dealing with wage disclosure and workers’ organization.
<p>UW makes about $1 million in annual revenue from
officially licensed products.
<p>
