The Student Labor Action Coalition would like to formally correct Reginald Young’s statements made in last week’s issue. We feel that it is important to accurately convey the issues concerning the Adidas case so that the university community is not misinformed. We also want to emphasize that this is not only crucial for the legitimacy of our efforts, but for the reputation of our university and the integrity of the afflicted Indonesian workers.
Young stated, “The pro-labor student organization has found fault with the chancellor for not doing everything in his power, even if it’s foolish, to support workers’ rights.”
Taking the correct action is not foolish – Cornell and Oberlin College have cut their contracts with Adidas. The University of Wisconsin has also done it before, with Nike and Russell. Ward has stalled for a year and a half while the aforementioned universities cut their ties more quickly and decisively.
“They made it sound like Ward flouted the committee, but in reality, he was just trying to prevent the university from being sued,” wrote Young. Ward’s inability to even compromise on the issue of cutting the contract showed that he cared more about the repercussions of a suit than our values of shared governance. Also, Senior University Legal Counsel Brian Vaughan has repeatedly stated that the act of putting Adidas on notice could not result in a legal suit against the UW.
Young further claimed that “If SLAC had taken the time to read the fine print, they would understand Ward’s intentions because the contract requires that if a dispute arises both parties must enter into mediation.”
SLAC has always said that if mediation was necessary, it is not mutually exclusive with putting Adidas on notice per the recommendation of the [Labor Licensing Policy Committee]. Also, the UW has two contracts with Adidas – only the sideline agreement would need to enter into mediation, while the licensing agreement would not.
“The rest of the legalese gets fairly complicated, which explains the fact that instead of understanding the problem, SLAC decided that the situation must have been just what they thought it was – because all corporations are evil and the chancellor is always wrong, right?” asked Young rhetorically. Despite what our members individually believe about the nature of corporations or the position of the Chancellor, our historical record shows that we are willing to do business with any company that upholds labor codes.
Young wrote that “Reading through the legalese, one finds that Adidas has no liability. Two key parts of the contract require that first, they don’t knowingly continue business with a subcontractor that violates the law and second, that Adidas must abide by Wisconsin contract law.”
According to WRC reports, Adidas CLEARLY continued business and was listing PT Kizone as a factory it sourced from long into 2011. Also, Indonesian law mandates severance which is in turn mandated by our contract.
“… you’d realize that Ward is trying to prevent the university from getting sued for wrongly terminating its contract with Adidas,” claimed Young. First, Cornell did not get sued for cutting its contract, which is similar to the licensing contract we have with Adidas. Since Adidas isn’t upholding the WRC agreement it signed, the UW must ensure that it is upholding this standard, i.e. by not doing business with companies that ignore the WRC.
“Instead, it is preventing the university from losing money that it certainly would if Adidas were to sue over the termination of the contract.”
Actually, the university is paying for the current lawsuit into which it has decided to enter, and therefore is losing money by NOT cutting the contract.
Young continued, “And then of course there’s the other reason UW shouldn’t just cut and run from Adidas: if we did, we wouldn’t have any leverage to get those factory workers their pay. Why the hell would Adidas want to pay them if the university wasn’t putting pressure on them anymore”?
Anyone aware of the history will see that the only tactic that has ever gotten brands to pay severance is by multiple universities terminating their contracts. Our fight against Nike led them to disclose the problems at PT Kizone and actually pay workers part of their severance in a timely manner.
Lastly, Young claimed “PT Kizone is the one at fault, not Adidas and not Ward.”
Indonesian law says that if a factory owner cuts and runs (like what happened in PT Kizone) the responsibility of severance falls to the brands sourcing from the factory. Since Adidas is not taking its due responsibility, Ward is also at fault for not taking the responsible route to ensure that Adidas upholds its part of the contract.
Next week, universities across the country are coordinating a national week of action. UW will be participating and showing support of the fair labor practices. As students, we recognize the importance of supporting the workers that make our collegiate apparel and holding corporations accountable for their actions in these workplaces. Keep an eye out for these actions across campus next week and beyond, because our efforts are far from over.
Alexandra Rezazadeh ([email protected]) and Sarah Blaskey ([email protected]) are members of the Student Labor Action Coalition.