Committee recommends U. join both sweatshop monitoring organizations

The Committee on Manufacturer Responsibility recommended yesterday that Penn join both rival sweatshop monitoring organizations -- the Fair Labor Association and the Worker Rights Consortium. Penn Students Against Sweatshops immediately criticized the decision, saying that the University should only have one monitor since they have such different set-ups and goals. "The whole idea that the WRC can't stand on its own is ridiculous," College junior and PSAS member Sue Casey said. "And there's no reason for the University to join the FLA." Last spring, PSAS held a nine-day sit-in at College Hall to demand Penn's withdrawal from the FLA, which Penn eventually did. They continue to push for the WRC, noting that it is less beholden to corporate interests. PSAS also said the committee asked for greater University representation on the operating boards of the FLA and WRC last spring. Only the WRC has increased their representation. The WRC and the FLA seek to monitor factories that produce university apparel and ensure the rights of the workers. The WRC has the support of several human rights organizations and has just over 60 college and university members. The FLA has the support of the White House and the apparel industry and 147 higher ed members. Composed of nine voting students, faculty and staff -- including two PSAS members -- the committee reached its decision in a 5-4 vote held during its meeting yesterday. "We completed our work on our recommendation to the president," said committee head Gregory Possehl, who heads the Anthropology Department. The Committee on Manufacturer Responsibility replaced last year's Ad Hoc Committee on Sweatshop Labor, which recommended last spring that Penn stay out of both monitoring organizations. Committee members had four options from which to choose yesterday. They could vote in favor of joining both the FLA and the WRC, joining one or the other or abstaining from both. "I feel that it's the complementarity of the two organizations that is important for Penn," Possehl said. Possehl stressed that as a result of yesterday's decision, the committee will make its Thanksgiving deadline for submitting a recommendation to University President Judith Rodin. Next week, the committee will meet again and review a draft of the report to be given to Rodin. After that, Rodin will make the final decision. If Rodin follows the recommendation, it is difficult to speculate what the results will be for the University as it tries to ensure that its logo apparel is produced under appropriate labor conditions. Daniel Long, a WRC governing board member who spoke at yesterday's meeting, explained that officially the WRC does not take a position on the FLA. However, from a more personal point of view, he said he felt that a decision to join both organizations showed a lack of consistency on the part of the University. "Personally, I think the University should take the moral high ground," Long said. "Joining both [organizations] gives a mixed message." He did congratulate the committee for its recommendation to join the WRC, though, and said he is looking forward to hearing Rodin's final decision. Maureen Murtha, the University liason for the FLA, was happy to hear of the Committee's decision. "I would be absolutely delighted for the University of Pennsylvania to rejoin the FLA," she said. PSAS members, though, were less than enthusiastic about the recommendation and criticized the process through which the decision was made. "Unfortunately I'm really not that surprised [by the decision]," College sophomore and PSAS member Anne Wadsworth said. "It's really too bad that we felt disempowered throughout the whole process."

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