Date of publication: April 26, 2010
Source: Retriever Weekly
Author: Sarah Solomon, Stefanie Mavronis, Jesse Haas, nd Aditi Bhaskara
Excerpt from article:
This semester UMBC has taken a step towards ensuring that products with UMBC logos bought from the Bookstore are not produced with sweatshop labor. It has, in the past, been impossible to know what the conditions were for a worker making these items because the production and assembly of UMBC apparel is often contracted or subcontracted to factories overseas, about which the original vendor may not release information. However, many large vendors for university apparel have been found contracting to factories in which there are sweatshop conditions, and so UMBC has made a decision to better assure the rights of workers making university apparel.
In 2009, UMBC decided to affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) and has this semester approved the Code of Conduct for its logo apparel manufacturers. This issue has been deliberated since Fall 2007 by the Fair Labor Standards Advisory Group (FLSAG), a group appointed by President Hrabowski after Solidarity Coalition (SoCo), a student organization, brought the issue up with the UMBC administration. FLSAG, chaired by Assistant to the President Lisa Akchin, included representatives of the Professional Staff Senate, Graduate Student Association, Student Government Association, Solidarity Coalition, the Administration & Finance Division, and the General Counsel's Office....