This past summer, Queen’s signed a $200,000, three-year contract with Russell Athletic which made them the “exclusive supplier of athletic apparel” to the University.
Among other factories, Russell outsourced some of its apparel production to Hermosa Manufacturing, a factory located in Apopa, El Salvador. According to a complaint made by a German NGO to the Fair Labor Association in December 2005, the Hermosa factory was abruptly closed in May 2005, leaving 320 factory workers suddenly unemployed with no severance pay, unpaid overtime work and outstanding unpaid wages.
In November of this year, students from Queen’s No Sweat raised concerns about the enforcement of ethical labour laws in the company, with particular reference to the El Salvador factory, and met with Principal Karen Hitchcock and Dean of Student Affairs Jason Laker.
Russell Athletic claims to be looking into the situation but says they aren’t responsible because the dispute in El Salvador is a domestic issue. Queen’s No Sweat wants the University to adopt a designated suppliers program (DSP), an initiative of the Workers’ Rights Consortium, which would require the University to source most of their logo apparel from supplier factories that are determined
by the consortium to be in compliance with ethical labour laws.
The program would be gradually phased in over a number of years. While more than 30 American universities have agreed to adopt the DSP, Queen’s istration has so far been reluctant to sign in, citing “cumbersome” implementation as the main obstacle. Jason Laker also suggested that because the DSP only applies to apparel purchases, it is somehow not fair because the University doesn’t maintain the same purchasing standards for other products.
Come on. First of all, you have to start somewhere; and second of all, the nature of the garment industry requires strict ethical regulations. And contrary to popular myth, enforcing ethical labour standards will not result in dramatic increases in costs, one of the other concerns raised by the istration.
The University needs to be more proactive in doing better background checks on the companies they deal with before g contracts. They should have asked more questions in the Russell deal.
Laker may be right to suggest that implementing the DSP may be “very cumbersome,” but that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing to do. Universities should be expected to lead the way in social justice movements such as this one because they are not—at least in theory—profit-driven institutions.
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].