Penn will now require info on insignia-apparel factory sites

Penn officials told students last week that they will now require all new makers of Penn apparel to disclose their factory locations by January 15. The announcement -- made last Wednesday to members of Penn's chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops -- was made in the midst of growing student protest across the country against sweatshop labor used to produce official university apparel. Last week, Nike announced that it would reveal the locations of all its factories for five schools where students had protested sweatshop labor with particular vehemence. According to Penn Associate General Counsel Eric Tilles, the University will now "require all new applicants [for a trademark contract] to disclose on the application itself the location of all their manufacturing locations." In addition, Tilles added, the calendar year for current contracts is set to expire on December 31, and any companies who wish to renew their contract must sign the new contract with the new provisions. Any group who asks for the list of locations after January 30, 2000, can have access to it, Tilles said. Penn first took steps toward monitoring conditions in factories that produce Penn apparel last spring when University President Judith Rodin made the decision to require full disclosure. But it was only last week that the University officially announced its intention to implement this new policy. Members of Penn's USAS reacted positively to the announcement. "We're really excited that Penn is going to have a disclosure policy," said Miriam Joffe-Block, a College senior and USAS coordinator. "We commend the administration for taking this important step." And Brian Kelly, a Wharton sophomore and member of USAS, called the announcement a "major victory for us since we're moving forward in our fight for factory locations." However, both Joffe-Block and Kelly said they were not convinced that the University would follow through with its promise. They outlined three more steps that the University needs to take to prove it is committed to an anti-sweatshop policy. "Penn has yet to indicate that it is ready to move forward," Kelly said. First, Kelly said they want the disclosure policy to be in writing; second, the list must be accessible to all students; and third, the University must also try to actively end sweatshop labor in factories it contracts with. The University's announcement Wednesday coincided with the student-led protest on Thursday where students stripped to symbolically protest working conditions in factories. The announcement also came on the heels of Monday's national release by USAS of the Worker Rights Consortium -- their alternative plan to the Fair Labor Association, a group of corporations and monitoring agencies that watch conditions in garment and other factories. USAS considers that organization to be ineffective. The Consortium was released in time for yesterday's National Day of Action. Students at over 100 college campuses -- including Penn -- will begin pressuring their administrations to withdraw from the FLA and join the alternative consortium. "We've got the momentum, we've got to keep going with it," Kelly said. "Together as a unit, universities have [the] ability to influence change."