Labor Alerts: Anti-Sweatshop Sit-in at Univ. Penn for nytlab@ursula; Fri, 11 Feb 2000 22:16:46 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Campaign for Labor Rights Labor Alerts (6,000 subscribers): a free service of Campaign for Labor Rights, a member of the Alliance for Global Justice To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to Web site: Phone: (541) 344-5410 Fax: (541) 431-0523 Membership/newsletter: Send $35.00 to Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 "E" Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Sample newsletter available on request. ANTI-SWEAT SIT-IN AT UPENN! posted February 7, 2000 In this alert: Penn students sit-in over sweatshop issues Action request Mobilize for April 16 IMF/World Bank protest in DC <><><><><> PENN STUDENTS SIT-IN OVER SWEATSHOP ISSUES [From a press statement released by Penn Students Against Sweatshops] Thirteen University of Pennsylvania undergraduate students occupied the office of University President Judith Rodin at noon on Monday, February 7. Penn Students Against Sweatshops (PSAS) is demanding that the university take steps to end its association with sweatshop labor. PSAS has called on President Rodin to end ties with the Fair Labor Association (an industry-controlled institution that students say will cover up sweatshop abuses) and join the Worker Rights Consortium, a verification institution based on worker input. The sit-in comes after months of attempts to convince President Rodin to take a stronger stance against sweatshops. Students have held a vigil, a rally and teach-ins and have met repeatedly with university administrators. And in a strong demonstration of community support, the Philadelphia City Council passed a unanimous resolution condemning the Fair Labor Association and throwing its weight behind the Worker Rights Consortium. The Worker Rights Consortium has already recruited Brown University, Haverford College, Loyola University of New Orleans and Bard College. Created by students in consultation with scholars, policy experts, labor unions and workers in countries in the global south, the Worker Rights Consortium places the needs of sweatshop workers at the center of its operation. "I wish we could have worked this out without having to resort to occupying her office. But President Rodin continues to use stall tactics instead of making concrete changes that will make an impact in workers lives. We are left with no other choice but to pressure her administration," stated Roopa Gona, a sophomore English and Spanish major. "The so-called Fair Labor Association is only a public relations operation designed to improve the image of its members like Kathie Lee Gifford and Nike," said Anna Roberts, a freshman German major." "Not only are students wearing Penn clothing made in sweatshops, but President Rodin has publicly linked the University to an institution mired in secrecy designed to perpetuate sweatshop abuses not eliminate them," said Miriam Joffe-Block, a senior anthropology major and coordinator of PSAS. Penn Students Against Sweatshops is a chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops, a national organization which now includes 200 campus affiliates in the U.S. and Canada. <><><><><> ACTION REQUEST Please send the following email (not this entire alert!) to UPenn officials and please cc your email to Campaign for Labor Rights at . The email addresses for the UPenn officials are: , , , , TO: UPenn President Judith Rodin, Provost Robert Barchi, Peter Erichson (Office of the General Council, Carol Scheman (VP for Government and Public Relations), Dr. Alfred Glessner (Director of Operating and Licensing) I support the Penn Students Against Sweatshops demands: 1. Penn to join to Worker Rights Consortium, a monitoring system created with input from sweatshop workers, unions and non-governmental organizations. 2. Penn to reject the Fair Labor Association, a corporate-controlled monitoring plan designed to cover up, rather than expose, sweatshop abuses. NAME: CITY/STATE (or COUNTRY if outside U.S.): ORGANIZATION (if applicable): <><><><><> MOBILIZE FOR APRIL 16 IMF/WORLD BANK PROTEST IN DC Organizers of the Seattle WTO protests are preparing for protest, education, training and direct action when the finance ministers of the world's governments gather in Washington, DC for the meetings of the IMF (April 16) and World Bank (April 17). The international bureaucrats who shape the world economy will find out that Seattle was not just a bump on their road to global domination. BEGIN PLANNING NOW to come to Washington, DC in April. Contact 50 Years Is Enough (Washington DC): (202) 463-2265, or Global Exchange (San Francisco): (415) 558-9486, ext. 254. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-02.11.00-22:16:37-32562