Capitol corner: UUP teams up to apply new sweatshop law; monitors federal act

Now that the anti-sweatshop bill has become law, UUP is working as part of a coalition to ensure that SUNY campuses sell sweat-free attire.

The group, the “Sweatshop Law Implementation Task Force,” is comprised of higher education labor and student activists. Its mission is to help carry out the recently enacted legislation that allows for flexibility when the state’s purchasing authorities buy apparel.

Under the new law — for which UUP and NYSUT were chief advocates — SUNY and CUNY can consider labor practices of vendors and refuse to buy goods made in sweatshops, even if their vendors are the lowest bidders. The law also establishes a “September 11 Bidders Registry” of apparel manufacturers and requires SUNY, CUNY and state and municipal governments to give preference to firms on the list.

“UUP led the way and devoted its energies to getting the bill passed,” said union President William Scheuerman. “There’s too much show business in this world and, at the end of the day, the question remains: What has gotten done?”

Since the law authorizes, but does not mandate, action by SUNY institutions, the coalition is currently campaigning for campus participation in the anti-sweatshop movement.

UUP Vice President for Professionals John Marino serves as the union’s task force representative, assisted by Thomas Kriger, UUP’s director of research and legislation. At the coalition’s urging, SUNY administrators are considering how to incorporate fair labor standards into campus purchasing practices, Marino said. Those considerations remained pending at Voice press time.

Meanwhile, the coalition has coordinated with the National Labor Committee, which will provide sample language University campuses can include in their procurement documents.

The task force is also encouraging SUNY campuses to join the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC). A national monitoring organization, the WRC strives to improve working conditions in factories that produce apparel for colleges and universities.

On a related note, UUP delegates will recognize student involvement in labor and the sweat-free movement at their 2003 winter assembly. The delegates will honor two undergraduates — who organized an anti-sweatshop advocacy day during the 2002 legislative session — as representatives of the students’ efforts.

The UUP Executive Board at its November meeting approved the Legislation Committee’s recommendation for the upcoming student recognition.

“We felt it was important to acknowledge the contributions students made to get the sweatshop bill enacted,” said Patricia Bentley of Plattsburgh, chair of the union’s Legislation Commit-tee and an Executive Board member.

UUP is also focusing on federal matters of concern to higher education. Scheuerman, chair of AFT’s Higher Education Program and Policy Council (PPC), also presides over a PPC task force that is examining key issues such as financial aid and the quality of education as Congress prepares to act on the higher education reauthorization bill.

“AFT will play an important role” as the Higher Education Act (HEA) — which governs federal student aid programs — is discussed in Congress next year, said Scheuerman, an AFT vice president.

ESF Chapter President John View, who Scheuerman described as an “expert on financial aid,” is also on the task force.

Because Republicans regained control of the U.S. Senate on Election Day, a Republican will replace Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over the reauthorization of the HEA. In the House, the act is a charge of the Education and the Workforce Committee, chaired by Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio).

This just in

As the Voice went to press, SUNY Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Richard Miller issued a memorandum of implementation of the sweatshop law to state-operated and community college campus presidents. The memo emphasized -- among other things -- that in their competitive bidding purchases, campus apparel procurers’ bid documents must state that they will not contract with suppliers who do not certify that their apparel was manufactured in compliance with fair labor conditions.

“SUNY’s direction to the campuses is very supportive of our position,” said UUP President William Scheuerman.

— Lisa Feldman Reich