Final sweatshop decision still in doubt

University President Judith Rodin is expected to issue a decision on the sweatshop issue any day now, and Penn students are anxiously preparing for her word. Rodin is now deciding which organization, if any, the University should join to monitor the production of Penn apparel. The Committee on Manufacturer Responsibility recently recommended that the University join both the Fair Labor Association and the Worker Rights Consortium. But Penn Students Against Sweatshops members maintain that the University only belongs in the WRC, claiming that the group better safeguards workers' rights. "The WRC is a real organization doing real things that protect workers' rights," College junior Matt Grove said. College sophomore Kasia Kubin added that if Penn wanted to protect textile workers in the developing world, it should join the WRC. "We expect the University to uphold human rights when deciding which one to join," she said. Penn currently belongs to neither, but PSAS members cautioned against joining both groups as the committee recommended. "We would be very disappointed as well if [Penn] joins both," Grove said. "[Rodin] would need to provide a very good explanation." Last semester, members of PSAS staged a sit-in at College Hall in protest of Penn's membership in the FLA, repeatedly demanding that the University join the WRC. The administration eventually withdrew from the FLA. PSAS members said that because of the sit-in and the attention this drew to the University, they doubted Rodin would only join the FLA. "I think that it is pretty clear that there is no reasonable way that Penn will join only the FLA at this point because of all that has happened," Kubin said. But Grove said that should the University join only the FLA, PSAS "would not quietly accept it." While Rodin has yet to make a formal decision regarding the issue, PSAS is preparing for her statement, though they are withholding judgement until the ultimate outcome is announced. "We don't want to react until we hear [Rodin's] recommendation," Kubin said. Grove also said that Penn should join the WRC because it has greater university representation, giving schools more of a chance to mold the organization. "We realize that both organizations have flaws," Grove said. "However, it seems only reasonable to join the one that we have the ability to influence change." The WRC currently reserves 10 seats on its 15-member board for universities. Universities have only one seat on the 13-member FLA board, though the organization is planning to increase this number to two. Grove also criticized the Undergraduate Assembly's endorsement last week of the committee's recommendation to join both. "The UA didn't have full understanding of the report," he explained, adding that the UA received more information on the FLA than on the WRC. And at a University Council meeting on Wednesday, PSAS member and Wharton junior Brian Kelly expressed the group's dissatisfaction with the committee's recommendation.