SOLE

Tea with DSP!!

2006-10-20T14:36:00.000-04:00

Recently, SOLE held Tea With DSP in MarySue Coleman (our very own university president)'s office. Unfortunately, despite a very cordial invitation, no administrators attended the tea.

We had hoped that we would be able to discuss the Designated Suppliers Program, a means of ending universities’ exploitation of sweatshop workers through apparel licensing, with MarySue, but this did not come to pass. Instead, SOLE enjoyed tea and discussed the DSP among ourselves.

These are some pictures of SOLE members enjoying tea and discussing the DSP. I think we look lovely!

SOLE puts the heat on Mary Sue Coleman to accept DSP

2006-09-27T21:41:00.000-04:00

Almost a month into the fall semester here at the University of Michigan, SOLE has stepped up its sweat-free campaign. We want to make President Mary Sue Coleman know that we will not let her drag her heels on adopting the Designated Supplier Program (DSP). The DSP, which has already been accepted by over 20 predominant universities including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Georgetown, Columbia and the entire University of California school system , ensures that all university apparel is not made in sweatshops. This means, as the United Students Against Sweatshops has defined it, that "University logo apparel goods will be sourced from a set of designated supplier factories that have been determined by universities to have affirmatively demonstrated full and consistent respect for the rights of their employees" including that of the right to form a union, receive a living wage, and decent factory work conditions.

As of now though, President Mary Sue Coleman has continued to put off SOLE and the DSP but now we are forcing the issue. For the past two weeks we have delivered, on a daily basis, a letter to President Coleman along with a copy of the DSP. The letter says the following:

President Coleman,

We are deeply disappointed by the lack of action on the part of the President's Office and the LS-HR Committee. Back in April the LS-HR Committee pledged to explore alternatives to the DSP as well as other methods by which to improve enforcement of the Code of Conduct. Aside from LS-HR Chair Larry Root's occasional attendance of DSP Working Group meetings, nothing has been done.

The WRC is releasing a revised version of the DSP, which has been approved by the DSP Working Group available sometime next week. You have the power to improve the working conditions of thousands of workers who produce University of Michigan apparel. Based on your commendable support of the Expect Respect Campaign, SOLE expects you to respect the rights of workers worldwide. We strongly encourage you to take action on this upcoming revision as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

SOLE
Sole.maintain@umich.edu

Along with this daily delivery, we will be escalating our direct action against the administration until they accept the DSP. This Friday, September 29th @ 12:30 pm, we are having a sweatfree pep rally in President Coleman's office. SOLE members will be invading the administration building with maize and blue clothing, a boom box blasting "Hail to the Victors", and another letter and copy of the DSP. This is only the tip of the iceberg if the administration continues to ignore our demands. In addition, we will be rallying support from the general student body through letter-writing efforts from other campus groups and individuals. President Mary Sue Coleman won't be able to get away with skirting the issue.

Reportback from USAS Retreat

2006-09-25T18:41:00.000-04:00

I didn't know exactly what to expect from USAS on the national
level. I didn't know whether they would be more dedicated or less,
more knowledgable or less, or even if they were so extreme I wouldn't
want to be around them. I guess I found out it was a potpouri. I
could definately tell there were some people there who wanted to
question what activism was, and then there were those that wanted to be
activists. I fall into the camp of the latter, because I think the
goal of activism defines what it is, and it is pretty hard to win a
campaign in the middle of an identity crisis. What I found most
beneficial was the practical knowledge and advice that came from
schools that had won their Sweatfree campaigns, hearing a recounting of
their experiences, what worked and what didn't, and for what reasons
they did or did not work. I finally found the responses to the
agruments against the Designated Suppliers' Program that had been
puzzling me for so long, and have renewed my confidence that the DSP is
the solution to the collegiate apparell problem. I will no longer
fumble with words, uttering half "umms" at difficult questions. I
won't feel intimidated by the representative from Knight's Apparel or
the Free Labor Association, and despite the fact that she is supposed
to invoke sympathy, I won't be afraid of the pregnant lady from Nike.
To sum it up, I feel we have a winning strategy, that after
exhausting the traditional mechanisms the University has set up for us,
that we can still succeed. The Committee decision was not really the
end, it was just the end of playing nice. The atmosphere of the USAS
conference was rife with energy, like every person was confident of
student power. It was contagious. Coming back to Ann Arbor, I feel
innervated. Innervated by strategy, innervated by the Worker's Rights
Consortium, and innervated by the new allies and relationships we
formed with fellow activists the country over. To use the words of
Nike, I think SOLE is ready to "Just do it".

-Blase

Fall Semester!

2006-09-11T17:40:00.000-04:00

Hot damn. It's here, it's the first full week of the semester, and I'm already contemplating hitting myself over the head with my Orgo book. The summertime lull has left and everybody's ready to kick off their classes, groups, events and endeavors. Festifall marks the buzz beginning on campus - and I was pumped to see how many people were interested in SOLE. We've got our mass meeting tonight and the group is excited to get things rolling. We've got a lot of ambition and goals to meet this semester and I definitely hope that we get some new faces in on the action. We're still planning on focusing on our Sweatfree campaign this semester - which is taking off all over the country. We've got a lot of support on campus already, and we're planning on rallying up some more. We've also got a lot of allies all over the country though USAS, as well as some great resources.
In terms of what we can do on campus, we can only build on the sweet actions that we pulled off last year. We've been brainstorming all summer for what we can do this semester and now that the year is in full swing we're totally ready to get started. SOLE has already created a name and a presence with our administrators on campus, and they can expect us to be an ongoing ordeal this semester. This is the year in which we will get the DSP passed, and change the Michigan apparel industry. More than 30 major universities have preceded us in this goal - and we're going to be in the next few. By doing this we're breaking trail for a better international garment industry, and ensuring the rights of thousands of workers. I'm excited to build on our ideas from the summer - especially with fresh input. We've got a lot to accomplish and a lot of dedication behind these goals. It's on, it's so on.

Go get em' Tigers.
Cheers -
Kaitlin

USAS Conference in Philadelphia

2006-08-17T23:43:00.000-04:00

Being a brand spankin’ new Solista, I was especially excited about going to the conference for United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS); I hoped it would not only give me the opportunity to gage how involved SOLE is on a national level, but it would also answer many of the questions I had and ease any reservations I had about actively fighting for a sweatfree campus. Of course, USAS delivered. I got the chance to step outside of my ideological comfort zone and meet students from lots of other universities who were just as concerned about the state of sweatshops as I had become, and the strategy workshops that I attended really inspired and motivated me to further involve myself in the sweatfree campaign. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how organized and systematic the campaign was until I met with representatives from other universities and the Worker’s Rights Consortium (WRC). I was impressed with how readily they threw themselves into the campaign and how eager they were to help us make U of M a campus whose clothing is made in factories that have good working conditions for their workers. I was also surprised at the high volume of people eager to set aside their own campaign to participate in helping out with ours. The reason for this is that U of M is the biggest university licenser in the country, and as such, are the one of the most influential voices for other universities in their own decision-making processes to approve the DSP. In essence, if we win this battle, so do most other USAS-affiliated organizations on college campuses all over the country. With everybody’s help, we were able to create an organized and effective strategy to thwart the big, bad wolves on our campus this fall.

All in all, between Philly nightlife, cellular projectiles, and solidarity at its finest, the USAS trip was a great experience. I’m looking forward to seeing what new experiences come our way this fall.

-Kai Ravariere

USAS Conference Summer '06

2006-08-17T17:07:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, four of us solistas hopped eagerly into my tiny cavalier
for the 10-hour drive to Philadelphia. Road trip antics included, the
trip was wonderful! In the heart of the city we met up with student
activists from across the country at the United Students Against
Sweatshops, USAS, conference.
The main part of the organizing took place on Saturday when we
attended open discussions regarding ways to keep our group
prejudice-free. We also spoke at length with a couple employees from
the Worker's Rights Consortium, WRC. They contributed valuable insight
for how SOLE can win the Sweatfree campaign this semester. It was
fascinating to brainstorm with people who have been using direct
action for years. Honestly, as a new member of SOLE I am sometimes
intimidated by ideas that can result in confrontation, but I was
reminded that what sweatshop workers deal with is so much worse. If
garment laborers face physical danger and rape on the job, then I can
certainly handle a campus cop's questioning.
I was also encouraged to have students from other campuses show
interest in what happens here at the University of Michigan. The vital
role our school has in the Sweatfree campaign cannot be denied: so
many other universities look to U of M to set precedent for their
decisions. What a positive influence we can have for those 14-year old
Bangladeshi girls that only make pennies each day.
Of course, winning Sweatfree on our campus is only possible with
support. With the advent of a new semester, I hope SOLE can find many
members with the same dedication and drive our current ones have. It
will make that difference.

-Aria Everts

SOLE- Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality

2006-03-13T12:43:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

This is SOLE- Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality. We are a student group at the University of Michigan that works towards labor and economic rights for workers on a local and global front. Currently we are working on two campaigns, the Raise the Wage campaign and the Sweatfree campaign. More about us and our campaigns will be posted as we continue to update our blog.