The debate about universities and sweatshops took another turn as the Worker Rights Consortium teamed up with Nike and Reebok to give workers greater rights at a Mexican factory.
The 500 workers at MexMode, a Korean owned factory in Atlixco, Mexico, were granted permission from the factory owners to form an independent union after the WRC — and several other international labor rights groups — began a public relations campaign highlighting what they called unfair labor practices at the factory, including low wages, verbal abuse and workers fired for complaining about conditions.
The campaign began in January after the WRC sent monitors to MexMode to confirm the reports. The media campaign caught the attention of Reebok and Nike, both customers of the factory.
“This is an extraordinarily rare, potentially very important issue,” said Daniel Goldrich, a professor emeritus of political science and Latin American specialist at the University. “It is almost unheard of for Mexican workers to be able to join an independent union.”
The WRC is a coalition of 86 colleges and universities organized to monitor and enforce manufacturing codes of conduct established by those schools. Many colleges and universities have recently developed regulations for their contractors ensuring that merchandise, such as T-shirts and sweatshirts with university insignias, are made under conditions the universities deem acceptable.
The University wrote its own “Trademark Licensee Code of Conduct” in early 2000, mandating a living wage for workers, safety standards and the right to organize, among other conditions. After much debate, the University joined the WRC in April 2000, but was forced to withdraw after the State Board of Higher Education decided that, to maintain “the free flow of commerce,” Oregon universities could not impose codes of conduct on contractors.
Members of the WRC say the decision in Mexico has redrawn the lines in international worker rights issues. In the United States, colleges and universities debating merchandise codes of conduct can now look to these events as a victory, according to Scott Nova, executive director of the WRC.
“This is the first time that we have seen universities’ codes of conduct truly bear fruit,” Nova said. “The question on many American campuses for the past several years has been, ‘Can pressures from colleges and universities make a difference in working conditions in overseas factories?’ We now know the answer is ‘yes.’”
Nova said that the deal between the factory owners and workers would not have been cemented without shoe companies putting pressure on the owners to negotiate. “There is no doubt in my mind this would not have happened without the intervention of Nike and Reebok,” he said.
Vada Manager, a spokesman for Nike, said that after hearing of the incidents of intimidation and firings in Atlixco, Nike moved quickly to reach a solution between the workers and the factory owners. “We had a very engaged role in having our corporate code upheld,” he said.
Over the past few years, Nike has gone to great lengths to shine a corporate image that had been tarnished by scandals involving child labor and unsafe working conditions. Tuesday, Nike released its first “Corporate Responsibility Report” to describe Nike initiatives on a host of issues, including reducing the amount of child labor and keeping factories safe and clean for its workers.
The report noted the MexMode plant specifically and said the daily coverage from the WRC and other groups “ultimately made it difficult to resolve very complex local issues.”
Manager also said the methods of the WRC and other groups attempted to demonize Nike, instead of pressing ahead for the rights of workers.
“Some parties made it a lot more difficult … rather than have a constructive dialogue,” he said.
On campus, the events may spur activists to push the higher education board to reconsider the code of conduct policy. Venus Killen, a member of the United Students Against Sweatshops at the University, said the decision in Mexico “convinces people that the WRC is legitimate, and now they can prove they can make a difference.” She said that putting pressure on the Oregon University System will be one of the main goals of the organization.
Goldrich agreed, calling the board’s decision a “shameful” act because it was made without a hearing.
“Their action does not do away with the problem,” he said. “It just sweeps it under the door.”