The tag on each of the three styles of union-made shirts offered by the University Bookstore read: “100 percent guaranteed to be made by workers who have living wages, health benefits, the right to organize, and a safe and healthy work environment.”
Since the shirts were first available in June, 114 shirts have been sold, bookstore merchandise manager Arlyn Schaufler said.
The shirts were made available after a group of 29 students from Professor Michael Dreiling’s spring term class titled “Workers, Consumers, and the Global Economy” formed the Campus Coalition for Fair Labor. The CCFL’s goal was to make union-made T-shirts available to buyers. The union label reassures students that the shirts were produced under humane conditions, according to the CCFL.
“We want students to have the choice to buy University apparel that isn’t made by workers who are paid low wages and work in hazardous conditions,” Becky Clausen told the Emerald in May. Clausen was a CCFL member and graduate student in the environmental studies program.
Although sales have slowed since the initial boom when the shirts were first offered, bookstore manager Jim Williams is optimistic about the shirts and has ordered three more styles of sweatshirts. He said the shirts have sold surprisingly well considering that they weren’t offered until the last week of the school year, and he welcomes any marketing ideas to increase sales.
“Our biggest buyers left for the summer just after the shirts had arrived,” he said.
Schaufler said sales in June were much higher than in the months that followed. A decrease in sales the last couple of months is most likely a result of changing weather, he said. He thinks sales will jump back up once the sweatshirts arrive.
Sportswear assistants Nicole Schiraga and Joy Veysey said that sales are much lower compared with other styles offered in the bookstore. Schiraga said that the shirts haven’t done as well because of a lack of publicity the last two months.
The cost may also be a factor, since the shirts cost $18.95, Schiraga said. Similar T-shirts cost between $9.95 and $15.95.
Veysey added that sales might improve if the shirts were mixed in with the rest of the merchandise. But she said she suspects people don’t buy the shirts because the simple styles are not very attractive.
“It’s a good idea, but look at them,” she said. “We need more variety.”
Nick Lougee, a CCFL member last spring, said the union-made shirts frustrate him and many other students because it still requires giving money to the bookstore.
Since then, the CCFL has disbanded. Some students graduated and others, such as junior journalism and anthropology major Greg Dusic, joined United Students Against Sweatshops – which is affiliated with the national USAS organization. The new focus has shifted away from the union-made shirts to other topics, such as raising awareness about sweatshops and ending the Oregon University System’s Business Policy, which doesn’t permit OUS schools to buy merchandise on the basis of political beliefs, Dusic said.
He said the group had originally envisioned a designated “no-sweat zone” in the bookstore. But Williams raised concerns that people may automatically assume the rest of the bookstore’s apparel was made in sweatshops.
“Right now, the shirts are on standstill while we concentrate on other issues,” he said.
Jeff Soulia, a junior exercise and movement science major, said the shirts haven’t sold because most students buy a shirt based on how it looks, and don’t really think about where it’s made.
“That’s the last thing I think about when I’m buying a shirt,” he said.
But Jenn Myers, a sophomore exercise movement science major, said that although she’s never noticed the “Union Made” sign that distinguishes the union-made shirts from the other shirts the bookstore offers, she is glad the bookstore is offering the choice.
“Even if they cost a couple of bucks more, I think it’s a good idea,” she said. “I would definitely consider where a shirt was made if I were planning to buy one.”