Is Gsu apparel Made in Sweatshops?

Signal during the campaign period. In the 2002 fall semester, two articles were published about the campaign; one criticism (Wall 2002) and our response (Labor Education and Action Project 2002).

137 In the first meeting, I laid out purposes of the coalition. They included to learn from each other’s activities and perspectives, help out each other’s activities, create a feeling of solidarity and trust to one another, accomplish more tasks, and recruit more students.

138 I developed some loose connections with at least one representative of a number of campus groups over the last few years, including Sankofa Society (African American Studies student group), the Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Students, Black Law Students Association at GSU, National Lawyer’s Guild at GSU, Environmental Law Society at GSU, Graduate Student Association, and to a lesser degree, Latin Forum. The Coalition unfortunately became inactive after the spring semester of 2001 when a few core individuals could not organize regular meetings any longer.

139 A group with a reservation of the Library Plaza stage is allowed to make big noises or play loud music only between 12:15pm and 1pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Because this place is perhaps the most populated area on campus, the spot is usually reserved in advance. Although there is no such restriction in the Unity Plaza, the place has much less walking traffic. In the case of the April show, many models and emcee persons had to leave by 1pm, which was the scheduled ending time of the show. By the time the equipment was set up by the school’s Spotlight program at around 12:45 or 12:50pm, we had no choice but to cut down the show length very substantially.

140 I have been active in the Greens since the early 2000.

141 The lack of certain racialized knowledge is also racialized knowledge because the absence indicates a racial boundary. They have a different set of racialized knowledge because they tend to be part of different activities and networks based on race.

142 MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) is the major public transportation system in the metro-Atlanta area.

143 Most candidates basically supported our campaign. One presidential candidate had this issue on his platform. But he lost both elections.

144 The organizing for peace was a part of the larger student response against the U.S. military retaliation against Afghanistan and other undemocratic repercussions in the aftermath of the September 11 incident. See Featherstone (2001b) for one account of this mobilization. See also Featherstone (2002) for a glimpse of the progressive student activism in response to the heightened Israeli-Palestinian conflict since early 2002.

145 In October 2000, I coordinated with a local Amnesty International group to host Enrique Villeda, a Guatemalan banana union leader in Atlanta to talk about gross worker rights violations at his workplace of a banana plantation, which was a subsidiary of Del Monte Fresh Produce (a separate entity from Del Monte Foods). It was a part of the southern regional speaking tour organized by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA, www.nisgua.org), a human rights organization based in Washington, D.C. He spoke in five classes at GSU. In September 2001, I coordinated with Empty the Shelters people in Atlanta to host a visit of 70 tomato pickers of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (www.ciw-online.org) and their supporter from Florida at Georgia State University as a part of their “Taco Bell Truth Tour.” Unfortunately, the tour in September was cancelled just a couple of days before the event due to September 11. About 20 of them, however, came to Atlanta in October 2001 and a big, successful national tour with about 90 people finally visited Atlanta on March 1, 2002. I was the main coordinator of these events. I gave out hundreds of flyers to students at GSU for the March farmworker event.

146 The whole text is available from the researcher.

147 Thadeus says that “in a sense, we are all victims, because we get drawn into the addiction of (a) trying to find happiness and (b) trying to find it through buying. The immorality of our quest (the fact that to optimize it we must encourage the suffering of others) undermines our own integrity as human beings; … it makes it difficult for us to slow down and actually appreciate the things we have….” I answered this question that we are all victims in a sense that we all participate in this neoliberal global economy in one way or another that encourages oppression in order to survive in it.

148 The other picture was about a protest by mostly white American youth supporters in New York.

149 Many fired workers were eventually rehired, and the workers now have an independent union who won a wage increase in the early 2002. See Thompson (2001b).

150 My question was “do you feel connected with or separated from other USAS chapters in the South as well as around the country? Why?” Daniel wrote that “I don’t feel very connected but I don’t see how I could since I really haven’t made an effort to be very involved in regional or national activities.” Thadeus replied that “[s]eparated. I’m just not involved enough.”

151 LEAP faculty advisor bought one pin, but no one else on the GSU campaign e-mail listserv showed an interest when the message about the sale of pins was posted. At that time, Alice was working full-time, while taking a class at GSU.

152 From a message I posted on the campaign e-mail listserv.

153 “Early risers” are groups mobilizing in the early stage of a social movement that show the vulnerabilities of the state or decision makers to potential challengers. As a result, they encourage other groups to mobilize for/against the same or similar goals.

154 We presented some information to the lawyers in this meeting, including our analyses about Follett’s code of conduct and monitoring mechanism. When I met with the Follett bookstore employee in front of the display case in September 2000, I learned that the company has a code and monitors. She said Follett did not use sweatshop labor. Thus, I created a couple of documents explaining why and how the code is weak and the monitoring, which used accounting firms like PricewaterhouseCooper, is flawed. These documents are available from the researcher.

155 In this second meeting, they said they had contacted the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) to get some information. GSU is a part of the CLC, which is located in northern Atlanta, and the CLC has been involved in the formation of the FLA. In short, the CLC favors the FLA, and the lawyers took their side of story into account to formulate their view, perhaps without similarly contacting the WRC office.

156 To this point, I argued that the WRC was planning to hold a series of dialogues with companies, and that it is wiser not to have companies in question on the decision-making board because of their interests and probable influence against genuinely improving working conditions.

157 The letter, apparently sent out to many campuses around the country on September 25, 2000, was addressed to GSU President Carl Patton, and the Office of the President officially received it on September 28. The letter is available from the researcher.

158 Later, I looked up the GSU Student Code of Conduct to find a relevant clause. The relevant section I could find was in “16.16.1 Additional Policies” in which it says, “[a]ll student organizations are asked not to use Georgia State University as a prefix to their names. The preferred identification is the ‘ABC Club of Georgia State University.’”

159 Later, I found out that most joining licensees are required to comply with the FLA code only for the school merchandise of the schools on the FLA. This means that GSU, not being on the FLA, will not benefit from the FLA even if all the GSU licensees join the FLA. And, not all GSU licensees were joining the FLA at this time.

160 Those four people were Alice, Daniel, Thadeus, and myself.

161 Upon a short notice, the signed organizations include International Socialist Organization, the Greens, Young Democrats, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Black Law Students Association, and Graduate Student Association. Copies of the letter were sent to the out-going president of the GSU Student Government Association, the in-coming president of the GSU Student Government Association, and Signal (Avent et al. 2002)(albeit in a substantially shortened version due to the Signal’s word restriction). The new SGA president later contacted Daniel to say she is interested in learning more about this issue. We hope to meet with her in the future.

162 For the 2002 spring semester, we were awarded $410. For the school year 2002-2003, LEAP was provided with $750. The money comes from the student activities fee that every enrolled student must pay each semester. Of course, myriads of regulations restrict for what purposes the money can be used.

163 I asked Alice, Daniel, and Thadeus about their parents’ annual household incomes as of 1999. Specifically, I asked them to choose their incomes from these three options: (a) more than $100,000 a year; (b) between $99,999 and $40,001 a year; and (c) less than $40,000 a year. Including myself, one chose (a) although he has mostly supported himself financially at GSU. Two chose (b), even though one of whom added she has not been receiving any financial support from her parents by 1999. One selected (c).

164 These phrases come from three close student observers of the campaign, namely Dan (pseudonym), S. Grundy, and Elizabeth.

165 For any indication, these colleges are on the WRC.

166 As mentioned, the workers belong to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (www.ciw-online.org).

167 All these numbers about Georgia State University are of the 2001 fall semester and came from the University Public Relations office.

168 Many would argue that colleges and universities are increasingly becoming the places to train people to successfully get a good job or career rather than to acquire critical thinking about society. Thus, it can be argued that this job-bound attitude is a part of the larger ideology and practice.

169 These results are available from the researcher.

170 The Freedom Summer was organized by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of the major U.S. youth organizations in the 1960s.

171 The median income figure is from 2000 U.S. Census at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_+s=55292491915 (QT-P32 Income Distribution in 1999 of Households and Families: 2000).

172 For your reference, the mission of Labor Education and Action Project is “to foster prospects for working people and organized labor in the United States and around the world,” as stated in its student organization charter form of Georgia State University.

173 But, getting to choose issues is an evidence of privilege because the marginalized groups would have little choice but to face their oppressions. At least, such a campaign needs to be accountable to the people it claims to be in solidarity with and responsible for its actions. Otherwise, a given hierarchy of power within a movement and in society is likely to be reproduced rather than challenged.

174 These materials are available from the researcher.