Date of publication: April 5, 2006
Source: Brattleboro Reformer
Author: DARRY MADDEN, Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- Fiery debate marked Monday's School Board meeting as a student organization asked for the board's approval to affiliate with a sweatshop reform group.
The Child Labor Education and Action Project (CLEA) proposed that the Brattleboro Union High School Board formally affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), a nonprofit which enforces manufacturing codes of conduct adopted by colleges and universities.
So far, no high school is affiliated with the WRC. Brattleboro Union High School would have been the first.
"We have come here to take our activism to the local level," said Sarah Maceda-Maciel, a senior and a member of CLEA.
In order to affiliate with the WRC, a school must adopt a code of conduct to which it holds the factories which manufacture its apparel -- in the case of BUHS, this would mean athletic and band uniforms primarily.
In addition, the school must provide the WRC with the names and locations of the factories which supply the apparel they are buying. This is research that CLEA would complete. There is an annual fee of $500 to the WRC for its services, according to CLEA member Katy Rivers.
The idea behind the WRC is that, instead of seeking out alternative, nonsweatshop apparel, the schools put pressure on preexisting factories to rectify any human rights violations therein.
A lengthy debate arose from Board member Lynn Corum's request that the board receive a full accounting of a $350,000 federal grant that CLEA received at its inception seven years ago.
John Ungerleider, a teacher at BUHS and a founding organizer of CLEA, told Corum that he found the line of questioning about the funding "insulting."
"Please, I really don't like where you're going. Read the book before the next meeting -- it gives a detailed account of how the grant was spent," said Ungerleider, referring to "Challenging Child Labor," a book which he edited and to which he contributed an essay about CLEA.
Board member Mike Hebert objected to the board adopting a "political standpoint."
"I really have to ask what political standpoint you're speaking of," said Maceda-Maciel. "This is a political agenda in the sense that it's a human rights issue.
Hebert responded, "This is a very political issue. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but asking what we do as a board."
Corum challenged the members of CLEA on the number of colleges and universities actually affiliated with WRC. Corum maintains that the Web site only lists nine.
"When I went to the Web site only a few hours ago it listed 155, all around the country," said Maceda-Maciel.
A search by the Reformer of the Web site found 152 affiliated colleges and universities.
Corum also voiced an objection to the word "collective" found on the WRC Web site, which she said sounded "communistic."
Many board members voiced support for the students' efforts.
"I've been compelled by the kind of issues that they've been dealing with," said Principal Jim Day, citing pregnant workers' rights and childrens rights. "I was moved by their concerns about human beings in factories. Period."
Ultimately the board voted to postpone further discussion until their May 15 meeting, which would allow board members to read the information that CLEA presented and for the school district's lawyer to review the contractual agreements.
The same issue came before the board last May. Maceda-Maciel said that the board didn't choose to affiliate at that time because they said they didn't have enough information about the program. The summer vacation then pulled attention away from the issue.
"That's the trouble with high school organizations," she said. "There is a lot of turnover and vacations."
Darry Madden can be reached at dmadden@reformer.com [1], or (802) 254-2311, ext. 273.
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