International workers’ rights organizations say sportswear manufacturer Russell Athletic refused Honduran employees access to clean water, closed two factories to quash labor unions and threatened to kill union leaders. In response to the charges, the UO Duck Store has stopped buying the company’s products, and 64 colleges and universities have acted to remove their logos from the company’s clothing.
Today, a group of University students will march to Johnson Hall to demand the University not renew its contract with Russell when it expires this summer. The company manufactures sweatshirts bearing the school’s logo.
School administrators, however, said the University is not allowed to end its association with the company. An Oregon University System policy prevents state universities from basing business decisions on anything other than a company’s ability to perform, involvement in illegal activity, or other specific criteria.
“Because of our situation, because of the OUS policy, we can’t make that decision,” University Director of Marketing and Brand Management Matt Dyste said.
However, Russell opponents allege the University has ulterior motives for opposing their efforts. Memories of protests in 2000 against the University’s relationship with Nike overshadow current efforts against Russell. During the protest nine years ago, five students were arrested for storming Johnson Hall, including the ASUO vice president.
Nike co-founder and CEO Phil Knight is a generous donor to the University. Members of the Worker Rights Consortium, which led the protests in 2000, said they saw Knight’s hand in the efforts against the protests and the Oregon State Board of Higher Education’s subsequent passage of the rule administrators now cite as an obstacle.
The consortium was also the first to object to Russell’s practices, and members of Step Up, Oregon!, the group fighting Russell this year, said they support the WRC.
“Because of the history, I think they sort of expect it to be about Nike,” Step Up, Oregon! co-founder Isabella Valderrama said of University administrators.
Valderrama and co-founder Mariah Thompson said, however, the group is not targeting Nike with its protest. Though she would like Nike to comply with fair labor practices, Thompson said, involving the company in the protest would weaken its chances at success because “then we’re going to have an immensely mistrustful relationship with the administration.”
With so many other schools canceling contracts with Russell, Thompson said the University would be at little risk. “This isn’t us asking them to do something radical or controversial or something that will end Phil Knight’s donations,” Thompson said.
Nevertheless, group members said they mistrust Nike. “(The University doesn’t) care that (Russell is) violating laws,” Thompson said at one of the group’s meetings. “This is Nike University.”
Group members said they will meet University President Dave Frohnmayer at 5 p.m. after the protest, scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. in the EMU Amphitheatre.
The meeting was arranged at a discussion between the group, Dean of Students Paul Shang and Assistant Dean of Students Sheryl Eyster on Monday. Shang said at the time that Frohnmayer would be unable to meet with the group Wednesday because of a busy schedule.
After the meeting, Shang insisted the University would be unable to terminate its contract with Russell because of the OUS policy. He said the decision of whether to use products produced with sweatshop labor is one consumers should make on their own. If University apparel was produced in violation of labor laws, he said, students should boycott it only “if they know that and if they’re opposed (to sweatshop labor).”
Dyste went further in support of labor laws. “I think people should be treated with respect and dignity,” he said. “I think that labor laws exist to protect that right.” However, he refused to discuss his emotional reaction to the possibility of negotiating contracts with companies that violate labor laws.
Dyste said he could not provide figures related to the amount the University makes from its relationship with Russell, except that the contract gives the University 8 percent of its sales on licensed products. Duck Store general manager Jim Williams said the store makes $200,000 to $300,000 yearly from selling Russell products.
Representatives from Russell could not be reached for comment.
Emerald columnist Matt Petryni is a member of Step Up, Oregon!
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