ILR student group campaigns for workers' rights
April 15 2006
The student members of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the ILR student group, The Cornell Organization for Labor Action (COLA), with the support of Lance Compa, Risa L. Lieberwitz and Sarosh Kuruvilla, recently succeeded in ensuring Cornell's endorsement and support of the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP).
The DSP would require that any factories producing clothing with a Cornell logo pay a living wage, allow workers to unionize and freely express their rights, and prohibit sweatshop conditions. We are among the first dozen schools across the country that have committed to adopting the program.
Professor Compa and Professor Kuruvilla both participated in the original student-initiated and administration-organized working group that reviewed the DSP and eventually recommended its adoption and implementation to Hunter Rawlings. The COLA members, Jordan Wells ILR '07 and Glynis Ritchie ILR '06, both participated in the actual formulation and meetings of the group.
Over spring break, Ritchie and Wells visited workers in a designated supplier factory in the Dominican Republic. The workers are holding signs asking President Rawlings to support the campaign and help the workers.
Related Destinations
No sweatshops should produce Cornell-logo clothing, says administration, supporting principles of student protest, Cornell News Service
Cornell University's response to the United Students Against Sweatshops proposal for a Designated Suppliers Program, Press Relations Office
