February 28, 2000
RELEASE ON RECEIPT

OBERLIN COLLEGE JOINS WORKER RIGHTS CONSORTIUM IN STAND AGAINST SWEATSHOPS

Eight national colleges and universities now members of the WRC

OBERLIN, OHIO -- Oberlin College President Nancy S. Dye has formalized the college's socially responsible stand on matters of sweatshops and child labor by joining the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). Oberlin became the fifth school to sign on, a measure that will require Oberlin's sourcing companies--manufacturers of college apparel--to meet a code of conduct that is consistent with the WRC's goals.

The WRC is a national, student-formed organization that seeks to ensure access for independent workplace monitors in the multi-billion dollar collegiate apparel industry. In addition to colleges and universities, the WRC collaborates with workers and non-governmental organizations to improve workers' conditions around the world in that industry. The WRC is committed to ensuring workers a living wage, the right to organize and to collective bargaining, the protection of workers' health and safety, public disclosure, compliance with local laws, protection of women's rights, and prohibitions of child labor, forced labor and forced overtime.

The other schools affiliated with the WRC are Brown University (founding member), Loyola University-New Orleans, Haverford College, Bard College, Indiana University, the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois at Urbana.

The cornerstone of the WRC is the various Codes of Conduct adopted by these schools. Oberlin's own Code of Conduct--a sweatshop-free apparel code of purchasing--was ratified in May, 1999 by President Dye, whose own scholarly interest in and support of labor issues has been well documented. In a letter pledging Oberlin's membership in the WRC, dated February 21, Dye wrote:

Oberlin is committed to requiring [of its licensees] full public disclosure of factory locations and the conditions in all such facilities, including those run by contractors and subcontractors. . . . We are pleased to join you in the effort to improve the working conditions of men and women around the world.

Oberlin's Code of Conduct was the culmination of two years of research by Oberlin students who are members of the Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC), formed at the college in 1997. They wrote the proposal as part of their work with United Students Against Sweatshops, a human rights and labor organization representative of the burgeoning network of student anti-sweatshop activists.

Unlike some large universities, Oberlin does not have an exclusive contract with a single company. Instead, like many smaller institutions, the college purchases apparel on a case-by-case basis, thus making it easier for Oberlin to stop buying from companies found guilty of unfair labor practices.

Members of SLAC believed Oberlin needed a mechanism in place to monitor companies' labor practices. As such, a committee was formed and a student intern, whose job it is to research corporations' labor practices and report back to the committee, was hired.

More information about the Student Labor Action Coalition at Oberlin College, and Oberlin's Code of Conduct, can be found on this Oberlin website: http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/99jun/slac.html.

To learn more about the Worker Rights Coalition, please visit their website at www.workersrights.org.

Media Contact: Marci Janas 2/28/00 #53 mj