SOLE seizes Bollinger's office

Students protest sweatshop labor

More than 25 University students occupied University President Lee Bollinger's office in the Fleming Administration building yesterday morning and planned to remain there through the night to demand that administrators adopt a stronger set of labor standards in the collegiate apparel industry.

The student activists refused to continue talks with Bollinger and University General Counsel Marvin Krislov after the administrators offered to meet with two of the group's leaders.

DANA LINNANE/Daily Ann Arbor resident Kerstin Cornell protests outside the Fleming Administration Building yesterday as students occupying University President Lee Bollinger's office hold a sit-in.

The students who led the sit in, all of whom are members of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality, said they want Bollinger and Krislov to meet with the entire group, which is camped out on the floor of the president's office.

"We're done negotiating. We want action," LSA junior Andy Cornell said.

Later in the evening, SOLE members said they attempted to meet with administrators, but had not heard back from the them.

University spokesperson Joel Seguine said talks could begin as early as this morning.

The students "have definitely put on the pressure," Seguine said.

SOLE and its affiliate organizations on campuses across the nation have said that current calls for tougher standards in the collegiate apparel industry are not strong enough.

The Collegiate Licensing Company - the licensing agent that handles contracts between manufacturers and the University and 160 other colleges nationwide - has been facilitating talks with various schools to improve working conditions and unfair labor practices in the apparel industry.

The University reported more than $5.7 million in revenue from the sale of licensed merchandise last year, the most of any school in the nation reporting similar information.

"We will be here until our demands are met," SOLE member Peter Romer-Friedman told the participants of the sit-in yesterday.

SOLE members said the University needs to commit to full public disclosure of the location and ownership of factories and the living wage - a salary factoring in local living conditions.

Referring to the living wage, Bollinger said "it would be reckless for us to sign on to a concept that hasn't been tested.

"It is not the right thing to agree with at this point," Bollinger said.

SOLE members ran into the administration building at 9:30 a.m. yesterday and up the stairs to Bollinger's office.

Bollinger was in Lansing yesterday for a meeting and Krislov, who had been involved in the negotiations prior to the sit-in, was in Flint, Seguine said.

"I respect all students and they have been very helpful," Bollinger said. "It's a very important issue. We're trying to find the most constructive way to talk."

Seguine said the students would be allowed to stay overnight in the president's office.

"They will not be forcibly evicted," Seguine said.

Security officers said the building will be locked and personnel will patrol Fleming throughout the night.

"So many schools are looking to us and we're asking for a lot, but we aren't asking for more than what these (workers) need," said LSA senior Sarah Cole, who is a part of the sit-in.

Cornell told the sit-in participants he once bought his parents "U of M Dad" and "U of M Mom" sweatshirts but said that he would "be embarrassed if they'd be wearing it now."

Cornell said people buy University products and don't realize where the goods were produced and by whom. "People love it and they eat them up," Cornell said.

LSA sophomore Jason Keydel said when he says he attends the University he does not "want to be associated with blood ... I want to be proud of my university."

Cornell said "we're going to say that people are more important that profits."

University alum Brad Markell, who works for the United Auto Workers research department, applauded the SOLE's actions when he addressed the sit-in participants yesterday.

"Your target is right on the money," he said.

SOLE members gave University administrators their final set of demands last weekend after a number of negotiation sessions last week.

Their most current demands also call for the University not to be part of the White House-sponsored Apparel Industry Partnership code, which 17 universities around the nation, including Duke University, Harvard University and other Ivy League schools, signed Monday.

Bollinger said last night that he was not prepared to announce the University's position on the AIP code.

Charles Kernaghan, National Labor Committee director, said the SOLE members' actions are "extraordinary" and "very timely" because they come on the heels of the signing of the AIP code.

Kernaghan, who exposed sweatshop labor practices in factories that produced merchandise for television talk show host Kathy Lee Gifford, said the University is a leader in the movement.

"I think they are going to spark the movement around the nation," Kernaghan said.

Harvard student Dan Hennefeld, a member of Progressive Students Labor Movement, said the AIP code is not adequate.

"All students feel that (the AIP code) is especially weak," Hennefeld said.

More than 50 SOLE supporters gathered outside Fleming at 4:00 p.m. yesterday to support the sit-in participants. A larger rally is planned for today at 2:00 p.m.

In the meantime, members of the sit-in wait in Bollinger's office.

"We have the luxury to wait; The women in sweatshops don't," said SOLE member Joe Sexauer, an LSA junior.

03-18-99