Decision to enter FLA, WRC pending

In the six weeks since members of Penn Students Against Sweatshops ended their 10-day sit-in at University President Judith Rodin's office, Penn has continued -- in quieter fashion -- to consider which of two major factory-monitoring organizations best meets the University's needs. Penn withdrew from the Fair Labor Association last month in response to PSAS's sit-in demands and is currently a member of neither the FLA nor the rival Worker Rights Consortium, the group favored by PSAS. At the sit-in's close, Rodin promised to re-evaluate the merits of both organizations. She also said she would withhold a final decision about membership pending recommendations from the Ad Hoc Committee on Sweatshop Labor. In a report released on February 29, the sweatshop committee recommended to Rodin that the University not sign on to either of the groups until they both responded to requests for greater representation for colleges and universities on their governing boards. Rodin has received responses from the FLA and WRC to letters she sent earlier this month asking that both organizations provide greater representation. The committee met yesterday to discuss the responses. It plans to issue recommendations later this week on how the University should proceed. Wharton sophomore Brian Kelly, a PSAS member who serves on the sweatshop labor committee, said both the FLA and WRC offered "very political responses." "The organizations, especially the FLA, are proving what we have been complaining about," Kelly said, adding that the responses were indicative of the groups' bureaucratic natures. In an effort to keep their cause in the public eye, PSAS members have been distributing information on Locust Walk since last Thursday. PSAS members have passed out fliers headlined, "It's not over yet!" that say that the sweatshop task force agreed with several of the group's criticisms of the FLA. The flier accuses Penn's administration of "trying to rejoin the FLA before these problems are resolved" and urges students to e-mail Rodin and demand that the University join only the WRC. Kelly said many PSAS members received inquiries from students after last month's sit-in ended asking whether the group had stopped its work, so PSAS decided to set up a table on the Walk. The group will also be holding a "sew-out," featuring a mock sweatshop, on College Green Thursday night to protest in solidarity with demonstrators at other universities. Kelly also said that the WRC -- which had four member schools when PSAS began its sit-in at Rodin's office on February 7 -- now has more than 20 members.

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