David Bonior: Schools Score Points by Standing Up for Workers

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from HuffPost:




David Bonior
Posted February 13, 2009 | 03:49 PM (EST)

Schools Score Points by Standing Up for Workers


In the recent Super Bowl, the Steelers and Cardinals showed that, amid the marketing hype, big time sports still have the power to bring us unique moments of human drama. Also last week, in a less-visible but perhaps more significant action, perennial basketball contenders Duke and Georgetown showed that, with some exercise of moral leadership, those in the business of sports also have the power to advance human rights. Responding to news that Russell Athletic, a leading U.S. apparel manufacturer, had shut down a factory in Honduras in retaliation for workers having organized a union, the two schools, along with others such as Columbia, Miami, Rutgers and Wisconsin, announced that they are discontinuing the company's license to put their logos on its sweatshirts.

In a time when university endowments have been hard hit by market declines, forgoing licensing revenues could not have been easy. But the moral dimensions of the choice could not be clearer: Russell's violations of labor rights at its Honduran plants, where workers average less than $1.50 per hour, are the worst recently reported in Central America. Its recent decision to close the plant -- which was announced only days after workers rejected a four cent per day wage increase from the company -- followed prior incidents where the company fired over 140 workers for simply joining a union. Those earlier events prompted several schools that, like Duke and Georgetown, have codes of conduct concerning the rights of workers making their logo apparel to threaten termination of Russell's licenses -- until the company offered reinstatement with back-pay to employees.

Though Russell claimed to schools that the closure was due to the global economic crisis, two independent investigations in Honduras told a different story. Russell managers, including its regional H.R. director, on over 100 occasions, made statements indicating that the plant would close because workers formed a union. When asked by fellow managers if Russell would accept government mediation of the labor dispute, the regional director reportedly responded in the negative "at the same time that he ran his hand along his neck, making the traditional sign of beheading."

To make matters worse, because union leaders have been blamed for Russell's decision to close, they have faced death threats inside the plant and in their community. A petition seeking to protect their safety is before the OAS' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bonior/schools-score-points-by-s_b_166823.html