Student labor organization protest

Students protest at Emmert's Annual Address

By Kendra Abernathy, COM361

The UW Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) utilized the captive audience that filled Kane 130 Tuesday afternoon for President Mark Emmert’s Annual Address, to raise awareness of the need to stop UW apparel from being made in Nike sweatshops in developing nations.

While President Emmert presented the various achievements accomplished by the UW and its community members during the 2007-2008 school years, five SLAP members unfurled a large, purple banner from the second floor balcony, while others passed out bright yellow leaflets to the audience.

"We chose to protest at the Annual Address because we knew that it would bring together unique and influential people of the university community,” SLAP supporter Stephanie Adler said. “We wanted to show people from every department that students are concerned and they want something to be done.”

The UW is in the process of negotiating a ten-year, multi-million dollar contract with Nike titled the Designated Suppliers Program of the Worker Rights Consortium; yet it does not protect workers from the human rights violations common in the global apparel industry. The UW became a signatory to the program in May 2007.

"The University of Washington has long supported the responsible treatment of workers who produce university-licensed goods," Emmert said in May 2007 (UW News).

SLAP has continued to raise awareness about international sweatshop issues even though UW signed onto the work program, because they want the UW to revise its code of conduct.

“We demand that the UW immediately incorporate certain assurances including union production guarantee, long term contracts, fair prices and living wages,” Adler said of the need to add DSP standards to the Nike contract.

While Adler explained that Emmert had met with SLAP and said he was working on negotiating the UW contract with Nike, proof of these changes has not been seen.

“We are now finished with some negotiations that will bring some financial resources to people that were forced out factories and left without recourse,” Emmert said at his address Tuesday.

Emmert also addressed five focus areas necessary for the University to remain competitive including:

• Development of the College of the Environment.
• A plan to deal with mass urbanization.
• Health care cost control and prevention.
• Information technology and computer sciences.
• Focus on alternative energy sources.

Despite the current international sweatshop issues in the background, Emmert remains confident that the continued success of the University and its community will be uninhibited.