The Student Labor Action Coalition met Tuesday where more than 40 students convened to discuss its campaigns for the semester.

The organization is meant as a bridge between students and workers.

“We are fighting for labor rights in whatever way we can,” group facilitator Leah Wagner said. SLAC chapters are independent cells run on campuses around the country. Most of these cells are affiliated under the United Students Against Sweatshops, a national organization lobbying against sweatshop goods on college campuses.

SLAC has had an industrious history at Oberlin. SLAC successfully petitioned Oberlin College President Nancy Dye to sign an Anti-Sweatshop Code of Purchasing. The organization also bused students to local steel mills to assist workers in their strikes and rallies in the 80s and 90s. SLAC has worked closely with campus unions to help improve contract negotiations between campus workers and administration.

When AFL-CIO president Jon Sweeny spoke at Oberlin during commencement ceremonies, he specifically complimented the purchasing code on campus as being one of the best in the nation.

In 2001, SLAC became dormant due to lack of members.

“A critical mass of people who had been very active in it graduated,” politics professor Chris Howell said. One of the group’s main focuses this semester has been establishing a boycott of Coca-Cola products on campus.

Luis Cordona, an exiled Columbian Coca-Cola factory worker, spoke on campus on Feb. 29 about the murder of his co-workers. During his presentation, he read a list of colleges and universities nation-wide that have joined in the Coke boycott. Oberlin College was not a part of this list.

DeCafe manager Gina Fusco has already expressed interest in boycotting Coca-Cola products in the DeCafe.

“If [boycotting Coca-Cola] is what we need to do, we’ll do it,” Fusco said. Fusco said it was largely because of SLAC that she is pursuing the boycott of such Coca-Cola products such as Odwalla juice.

Several members of SLAC attended the anti-Free Trade of the Americas Agreement protest in Miami this past November. Other issues SLAC is considering pursuing include educating local high schools and middle schools, working with campus unions on upcoming contract negotiations, strengthening ties with local immigrant farm workers, and lobbying against president Bush’s overtime pay cuts.

The organization is already closely involved with local labor, including campus unions and Lorain County steelworkers unions.

Members at the meeting broke into two groups for the semester. One group will address local labor issues and one will work on national issues such as NAFTA, FTAA, CAFTA and sweatshops. Treasurers, email coordinator, and liaison positions were also filled.