Following yesterday’s announcement that the University will not pay its membership dues to the Worker Rights Consortium, a flurry of rumors spread that the University was dropping out of the sweatshop monitoring organization.
University officials are now confirming that the University never had membership in the WRC, so to claim that it is dropping out or has conceded membership is an inaccurate description of the current situation.
“For people to talk about backing out or dropping out is incorrect,” said Duncan McDonald, vice president of public affairs and development.
He said the WRC is still behind in taking “formative steps” to become an entity with which the University could feasibly enter into a contractual agreement. In the University’s opinion, McDonald said, the WRC is still not a membership organization, so it would make little sense to say that the University has dropped its membership.
The decision not to pay the invoice of membership dues the University received from the WRC this month is not a statement of how the University feels about the WRC, but how it views the legal issues concerning membership in the organization, McDonald said.
“[The decision] was not an act of backtracking, but an act of due diligence,” he said.
McDonald said the WRC may have incorporated itself in the state of New York, but also said the organization still needs to have its articles of incorporation ratified. In addition, the issue of the University’s liability protection is still too unclear for it to make a commitment to the consortium, McDonald said.
“We await their response and their response to our earlier inquiries,” he said.
David Frank, an associate professor in the Clark Honors College and chair of the University Senate WRC Review Committee, said he had not been aware of the legal issues until Frohnmayer’s announcement. He said he was reluctant to comment on the announcement because he isn’t a lawyer, but did say it would be proper for the University to ensure that all legal issues are settled before joining with the WRC.
“If the legal standards are valid, they need to be met by the WRC and the Fair Labor Association,” he said.
In his statement, Frohnmayer said that “when and if a similar invoice is received from the Fair Labor Association, the same procedures of review and due diligence will apply,” meaning the University could also decide not to pay the FLA if it found reason.
Business professor Lynn Kahle, who sat in as a faculty advisor during the last WRC meeting on Oct. 2, said the WRC could comply with the University’s conditions soon. He said there appeared to be a willingness on the WRC’s part during the meeting, and he added that several issues about liability were discussed.
“There’s usually a lag until action is taken, so it could happen by the next meeting,” he said.