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See also the following sections of this website:

• Codes of Conduct
• Monitoring
• Labour issues - General
• Apparel Industry: General
• Clothing & textile companies
• Footwear companies

Worker Rights Consortium website:

Worker Rights Consortium (WRC)

• Factory Locations 

Other materials:

2003:

Latin Sweatshops Pressed by U.S. Campus Power [Dominican Republic] -...The pact [a union-negotiated labour contract at BJ&B hat factory], signed last week, was the latest victory for a once unlikely coalition of United States college students, labor activists and world-class brands like Nike and Reebok working to improve labor conditions in the factories in developing countries that make caps and clothing emblazoned with university names and mascots...Labor leaders here and abroad now say it [BJ&B factory] is probably the largest factory among the free-trade zones of the Caribbean, Central America or Mexico to have been unionized. (David Gonzalez, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2003)

2002:

Will McMaster University make Nike Canada sweat? Company will be tested for first time by a Canadian institution -...For the past two years, students, staff and faculty at McMaster have worked to develop a "Code of Labour Practices for University Suppliers and Licensees."...The first test for McMaster's disclosure provisions will be the university's "preferred supplier" contract, signed earlier this year with Nike Canada. (NUPGE, National Union of Public and General Employees [Canada], 14 Aug. 2002)

McMaster is first Canadian University to affiliate with Worker Rights Consortium: University develops new policies on labour code practices, fair trade coffee (Kelly Curwin, McMaster University Daily News, 31 July 2002)

Students end protest of alleged FSU sweatshop support [USA] - Florida State University students ended their 114-day protest over the university's alleged support of sweatshops after the school's president agreed to two of their demands. (Daytona Beach News-Journal, 18 July 2002)

• Sunshine on Sweatshops [USA] - It's been more than three months since twelve Florida State University students were arrested (Jenny Stepp, The Nation, 3 July 2002)

U, WRC must make conduct code work [USA] -...The University [University of Minnesota] has solidified its commitment; now, the duty lies with the WRC [Worker Rights Consortium]. It should take the initiative to police these companies, enforcing company compliance with code standards and ensuring those who do not comply lose their contracts. (Minnesota Daily, 3 May 2002)

• Apparel code of conduct approved - University [Univeristy of Minnesota] President Mark Yudof approved the University’s first trademark licensing code of conduct Tuesday...It will require the many dozens of companies — which pay the University an annual total of $500,000 in trademark fees — to adhere to strict employment standards. (K.C. Howard, Minnesota Daily, 1 May 2002)

WRC Assessment re PT Dada Indonesia: Preliminary Findings and Recommendations - This is the Preliminary Report of an assessment of working conditions at an apparel and stuffed-toy factory in Indonesia [supplying companies including Adidas, Disney, Gap, Top of the World Inc, American Needle and Novelty Inc] (Worker Rights Consortium, 26 Mar. 2002)

• FLA issues public statement on PT Dada, Indonesia - The Fair Labor Association noted today that the Worker Rights Consortium...has released a Preliminary Report on PT Dada. The FLA has been closely following the situation at PT Dada, and coordinating with adidas to ensure that the plant is closely monitored and that non-compliance issues are remediated. (Fair Labor Association, 28 Mar. 2002)

Sweatshop campaign by students comes to head: FSU [Florida State University] refuses to join 2nd factory-monitoring group [USA] - Members of the FSU Students Against Sweatshops have been trying to persuade D'Alemberte [FSU President Sandy D'Alemberte] to affiliate the university with the Workers Rights Consortium, an advocacy group that would monitor the factories that manufacture FSU-licensed products. (Melanie Yeager, Tallahassee Democrat [Florida], 4 Mar. 2002)

2001:

Mexican Labor Protest Gets Results: ...Mexmode — an assembly factory, or maquiladora — is a principal supplier of college sweatshirts to Nike and Reebok. Hearing that Mexmode workers were fired for their cafeteria boycott, leaders of an activist coalition supported by students and administrators from about 85 American colleges and universities rushed here to investigate...The group, the Workers Rights Consortium, heard complaints about low wages, verbal abuse and corruption among union officials, then began a high-profile campaign that threatened the image of the Nike swoosh. (Ginger Thompson, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2001)

Big-league caps and labor flaps [USA]: the Worker Rights Consortium...has just issued a report accusing the New Era Cap Company of having an extraordinarily high injury rate at the factory in this blue-collar town, 15 miles south of Buffalo. The report also accuses New Era of seeking to punish the workers by cutting their wages and transferring production to the South because they had voted to join an aggressive new union. (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2001)

Wary Allies [concerning the pros and cons of using corporate codes of conduct to promote labour rights; one concern being "a rush to corporate codes of conduct would allow powerful companies to avoid union organizing, enforceable collective agreements, and government regulation"] (Lance Compa, American Prospect, 2-16 July 2001)

The NGO-Industrial Complex: A new global activism is shaming the world's top companies into enacting codes of conduct and opening their Third World factories for inspection. But before you run a victory lap in your new sweatshop-free sneakers, ask yourself: Do these voluntary arrangements truly help workers and the environment, or do they merely weaken local governments while adding more green to the corporate bottom line? (Gary Gereffi [Professor of sociology and Director of the Markets and Management Studies Program at Duke University], Ronie Garcia-Johnson [Assistant Professor of environmental policy at Duke University], Erika Sasser [Visiting Assistant Professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University], in Foreign Policy, July-Aug. 2001)

Groups take stand on overseas labor: Working conditions scrutinized (Bruce Finley, Denver Post, 14 June 2001)

University acts to cut ties with some apparel firms: The University of Iowa has canceled 176 licenses with apparel companies that either failed to disclose the location of their factories or sign the school's code of conduct. (Chicago Tribune, 3 May 2001)

Investigators' Report on Nike Contractor in Mexico Calls for Immediate Action to Enable Illegally Fired Workers to Return to Work: University fact-finders cite "substantial evidence of severe on-going violations of worker rights" (Worker Rights Consortium, 25 Jan. 2001)

Nike Letter to Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) [regarding labour dispute at Kukdong factory in Mexico] (Associated Press, 21 Jan. 2001)

2000:

UO [University of Oregon] Wins Back Knight [Nike CEO Phil Knight] as Fan, but Not as Donor (kgw.com [Portland, Oregon], 10 Nov. 2000)

Dark Knight [regarding Nike] (Michele Orecklin, Time, 8 May 2000)

U-M [University of Michigan] Bungles Nike Deal (editorial, Detroit News, 5 May 2000)

Will Nike spurn colleges? (Greg Bolt, Register-Guard [Eugene, Oregon], 22 Apr. 2000)

UC [University of California] joins Worker Rights Consortium (UCSF [University of California San Francisco], Daybreak, 10 Apr. 2000)

WRC holds founding conference (Worker Rights Consortium, 7 Apr. 2000)

1999:

Brown to remain in Fair Labor Association, join Worker Rights Consortium (Brown University News Service, 18 Oct. 1999)