With the Student Labor Action Coalition along with the Associated Students of Madison again voicing demands that University of Wisconsin cut ties with JanSport, conflicting arguments from all parties have surfaced.
Here is what students need to know.
Where did concerns over the university’s contract originate?
The Student Labor Action Coalition has lobbied the university about workers’ rights in Bangladesh since early 2013, Luke Gangler of SLAC said. In recent years, thousands of Bangladeshi workers have died due to poor factory conditions. For instance, on April 24, 2013, more than 1,100 workers died at the Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka due to its collapse.
In light of this tragedy, in May 2013, various international trade unions and companies created the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a five-year independent and legally-binding agreement between participating brands and retailers to build a safer environment for Bangladeshi workers.
Why is SLAC focusing its attention on JanSport?
Gangler said nearly 200 companies with ties to Bangladesh have signed the accord, but the VF Corporation, the parent company of JanSport, refused to sign it. While the university does not have a contract with VF, it does have one with JanSport. SLAC said because of this, UW is still connected to VF and its alleged labor violations.
However, Craig Hodges, the director of corporate communications for VF Corporation, said in an email when international parties were forming the accord, the company decided to join an alternative compact called the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety because it included companies the VF Corporation was familiar with. In addition, he argued in a Wisconsin State Journal op-ed that none of the VF Corporation’s subsidiaries have produced collegiate material in Bangladesh since 2013.
What are the arguments surrounding JanSport’s relationship with the VF Corporation?
SLAC has lobbied for the university to cut ties with JanSport despite the fact it has no operations in Bangladesh. In a November letter to Chancellor Rebecca Blank, SLAC argued even though this was true, JanSport and the VF Corporation were effectively the same company because they claimed VF Corporation has control over JanSport’s sourcing of materials. SLAC argued VF Corporation has over 190,000 workers in Bangladesh.
However, Hodges said VF Corporation does not directly employ these workers. Instead, he said VF sources materials from roughly 90 Bangladeshi factories, which employ the 190,000 workers. He said other companies beside VF source materials from these factories, as well.
Still, SLAC has argued VF is shielding itself from protecting worker safety both through calling these workers “contractors,” as well as having its subsidiaries sign contracts with universities instead of VF.
The university did follow the Labor Codes and Licensing Advisory Compliance Committee’s advice to require all university licensees who source, produce or purchase in Bangladesh to join the accord. But Blank said in her February response to SLAC that JanSport had no business in that country.
Therefore, she said cutting the contract with JanSport would not be necessary, although she said the university would investigate the supply chain of VF. Everett Mitchell, the UW director of community relations, said the results of the LCLAC investigation will most likely be released next month.
What are the arguments over the legality of cutting the contract?
SLAC argues the university has the legal precedent to cut its contract with licensees at any time for any reason, as Gangler said it has done with other companies that violated workers’ rights. In 2010, for instance, Gangler said UW ended its contract with Nike over poor worker conditions in Honduras, which led to Nike changing its practices.
But Mitchell said the university’s legal team has disagreed whether UW has the right to cut the contract because JanSport is a subsidiary of VF and does not technically have operations in Bangladesh. Thus, the university argues, JanSport has not violated the university’s code of conduct.
