A recent report released by a labor advocacy group indicated that health and safety issues topped the list of violations that occurred in factories producing college merchandise, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Twenty-eight companies, including three that produce AU merchandise, were included in the report released by the Fair Labor Association. Thirty-six companies in total are currently contracted to produce AU merchandise.
One company, Commemorative Brands, Inc., which produces AU's class rings, had numerous violations reported during an inspection of one of its four U.S. factories in December 2004. These included a lack of a confidential complaint system, reports of verbal abuse, overtime issues and several health and safety violations. A follow-up report from the factory's management indicated that these violations had since been corrected.
Zephyr Graf-X, which produces hats and other AU athletic apparel, also had several violations reported during a 2004 inspection of one of its two factories in South Korea. The recorded violations included inadequate safety training and postings, inadequate safety equipment, inadequate evacuation procedures, overtime compensation and the recording of overtime hours. According to the report, most of these violations were subsequently remedied.
A third company included in the report, American Pad & Paper, which produces notebooks and other paper products for AU, had no major violations recorded during a December 2004 inspection of one of its two factories in the U.S.
Only three companies contracted by AU are monitored by the Fair Labor Association. Most companies licensed to produce merchandise are not monitored by the FLA, due to their classification as "Category C licensees," according to Kathy Stevens, university liaison for the organization.
"We do not monitor Category C licensees because those companies have less control over the factories that manufacture their goods," Stevens said. "However, those companies do their own internal monitoring of the factories."
Stevens also said that the association regularly updates its member schools on current information on their licensees.
Follett Higher Education Group, the company that runs AU's campus store, also monitors its vendors.
AU's campus bookstore was unable to comment on the university's policies toward fair labor and referred questions to Cliff Ewert, vice president for public and campus affairs for Follett.
"We have a vendor code of conduct, which we require all of our vendors to abide by," Ewert said. "We monitor whether our vendors are following the code by conducting surprise inspections of their factories each year. Any company that violates the code of conduct will have its contracts with us terminated."
According to the code of conduct, no workers involved in the manufacture of Follett-sold products may work more than 48 hours per week, and the must be allowed a day off during a seven-day period. Follett prohibits the use of child or sweatshop labor and corporal punishment. All Follett-contracted companies must also abide by the safety and health standards of the countries where their products are manufactured.
They have not had to terminate their contract with any company, Ewert said.
"Before we enter into a contract with a company, we take a hard look at their manufacturing and business practices," he said. "For instance, we don't use companies who use brokers, because then we wouldn't know where our products are coming from. We want to make sure that the products we sell are not manufactured using sweatshop or child labor."
The Community Action and Social Justice Coalition, a student-run resource center for student-led public advocacy groups, has been involved in several on-campus movements relating to labor rights, including the recent campaign to persuade AU to use Pura Vida, a fair-trade coffee franchise, as the new coffee shop in Mary Graydon Center.
CASJ does not actively monitor AU licensees' labor practices, according to Theresa Miller, a junior in the School of International Service and a CASJ co-facilitator. That could change, Miller said, "if there was a situation where sweatshop-made clothing was being sold [on-campus], we would likely get involved."
Gail Hanson, vice president of campus life and a member of the FLA, said that since becoming a member school of both the FLA and WRC, AU has not had to terminate its contract with any of its licensees.
"In each case where a violation has been found in one of the companies that manufactured goods for us, the company has gone through remediation to correct these violations," Hanson said. "Obviously the FLA and AU want to get a factory back into compliance rather than terminating a contract with the company, since that would result in some workers losing their jobs. If it was a hopeless situation, and the company refused to correct the violations, we'd end our contract with that company"
