The clothing we wear is for the most part manufactured and assembled by workers in developing countries, who toil under miserable conditions, for long hours, no benefits and meager wages. It’s not something most students want to hear about, and if we do care enough to empathize with the workers, we think there’s nothing we can really do. However, the University and committed group of Georgetown students did something about it. Together they were able to pressure Lands’ End, a major clothing retailer, and the main supplier of Georgetown athletic wear, to change its policy toward the workers who manufacture their clothing. We commend the administration and the students involved for acting on behalf of workers’ rights.
The University hasn’t always been this responsive to workers’ rights. In 1998, Georgetown Solidarity Committee members organized a campaign to ensure that factories manufacturing Georgetown University apparel safeguard the rights of workers. The University responded, creating the Licensing Oversight Committee, composed of students, faculty and administrator, in 2000. The LOC meets bi-weekly and works closely with the Workers Rights Consortium, a non-profit group that monitors working conditions in factories around the world.
The conflict with Lands’ End began in the fall of 2003. The WRC alerted the University that an El Salvadorian factory contracting with Lands’ End was blacklisting workers and refusing jobs to those trying to unionize, a clear violation of the University’s policy, which states, “licensees shall recognize and respect the right of employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining.” At first Lands’ End denied the allegations. On Jan. 21, 2004, the University responded by refusing to renew its contract with the company. Other schools, like Northwestern University, followed Georgetown’s lead, and as pressure mounted Lands’ End admitted that there were problems. By March, Lands’ End had developed a new plan to fix workers’ rights. Satisfied with the company’s response, the University reinstated its contract on April 25.
By not renewing the Lands’ End contract for student apparel, the University sent a clear message that it would not tolerate abusive policies towards the workers who manufacture its clothing.
