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NewsvineMembers of the Stanford Sweat-Free Coalition rallied in White Plaza Wednesday, geared into action by reports of workers’ rights violations in a company that makes Stanford hats. The Coalition encourages the University to take action against possible labor abuses from companies contracting with Stanford.
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The event was spurred by widespread reports of unsafe working conditions, employee mistreatment and racial and gender discrimination at the Alabama-based New Era Cap Company, which makes Stanford hats.
“Universities that are affiliated with the WRC [Worker Rights Consortium] were immediately notified by the WRC of the violations in the New Era factory and encouraged to place pressure on the owners of the factory,” said Theresa Zhen ‘09, who organized yesterday’s rally.
Several major universities — such as the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Wisconsin-Madison — have threatened to terminate or have terminated their licensing agreements with New Era, citing the company’s refusal to cooperate in an investigation by the WRC, an independent monitoring organization. On Monday, the New Era Cap Company reached a tentative settlement with workers regarding charges of racial discrimination and union-busting.
Despite student and university protests against New Era, Stanford did not take action against the company.
“As far as we know, they [the administration] have done nothing with the information they have received from the WRC,” said Nicole Pepperl ‘09, a member of the Stanford Sweat-Free Coalition. “Stanford has not been proactive at any step of the way in addressing the sweat-shop issue. It has really been student efforts all the way. In fact, they didn’t even have a monitoring organization [WRC] till last year.”
Susan Weinstein, director of Trademark Licensing and Stanford’s representative to the WRC, stood by the University’s decision.
“It is our understanding that unfair labor practices complaints have been filed by workers before the National Labor Relations Board, and racial discrimination complaints have been placed before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” Weinstein said in an email to The Daily. “These are two United States governmental agencies that have the jurisdiction to investigate and draw conclusions over the validity of these claims.”
Weinstein emphasized that, unlike many under-developed countries, the United States has well-established legal processes available to workers to air their grievances.
“It would not be appropriate for Stanford to make a decision to terminate our license with New Era prior to completion of the legal processes set up to address these types of issues, a determination that the claims have merit and a refusal by New Era to take remedial actions if any are required,” she said.
Weinstein has conveyed that the administration is continuing to watch the issue.
“The University plans to continue to monitor progress and will make a decision once we learn of the findings that result from investigation and evaluation by the institutions set up for this purpose by our legal system,” Weinstein said.
Coalition members, however, remain unsatisfied with the University’s response.
“The University has expressed to us that they feel the collegiate part of the apparel market — and Stanford’s share in particular — are too small for the University to have any significant leverage to change conditions in factories,” Pepperl said. “We disagree, since we think that colleges are a small but very important part of the apparel industry.”
“Our affiliation with the WRC is only useful if the University is willing to take action on the inspection information and pressure licensees to improve conditions,” Pepperl added.
After the news of New Era Cap’s tentative settlement was released, the Coalition, in an email to Weinstein, continued to urge the University to take a public stance on the issue and to take action to defend workers’ rights in the future.
“Though a victory for New Era workers in Mobile, Alabama, may be in the horizon,” the email said, “we believe Stanford still must take a stance on this issue and, most importantly, take action when such blatant examples of worker discrimination arise again. We must actively enforce the codes of conduct that define the moral integrity and leadership of this university.”