CSULB
clothing subject to fair labor laws
By Mario Burciaga
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
As Cal State Long Beach students proudly sport their Beach attire, many are unaware
of the requirements necessary to create the apparel, including obstacles in ensuring
it is not created in sweatshops.
A recent press release by sweatshopwatch.org stated that six years after California’s
anti-sweatshop bill, AB 633, was passed into law, a study revealed the law has
been ineffectively utilized by the state labor agency entrusted with enforcing
it, the Fair Labor Standards Act.
AB 633 was developed to guarantee California’s workers are not denied the
bare minimum standards of living and working.
Fred Neely, director of Bookstore Services, commented on the policies and monitoring
organizations utilized by CSULB to verify that all vendors producing CSULB apparel
comply with labor regulations.
“
To the best of our knowledge the CSULB apparel that we sell is not produced
in sweatshops,” Neely said. “CSULB apparel vendors are licensed
to produce products with the marks of the university through the CSULB
licensing program overseen and approved by 49er Shops and University
Bookstore.”
Neely also said CSULB is a member of the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and Workers
Rights Consortium (WRC). All vendors who produce CSULB apparel are required to
be members of the FLA and licensed by the university.
Vendors producing apparel with the marks of CSULB are required to adhere to terms
of CSULB’s licensing contract and FLA standards, codes and other requirements.
According to the FLA and WRC Web sites, the role of such non-profit organizations
is to combine the efforts of industry, non-government organizations, and colleges
and universities to enforce the code of conduct, promote adherence to international
labor standards and to improve working conditions worldwide.
The FLA Web site said CSULB’s Code of Conduct protects all workers employed
by CSULB vendors against forced labor, child labor, harassment and abuse, discrimination.
It also grants health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining,
wages and benefits, hours of work and overtime compensation.
The
FLA conducts independent monitoring and
verification to ensure FLA’s workplace
standards are upheld where FLA Company
products are produced.
According to the FLA Web site, CSULB must comply with AB 633. CSULB also must
comply with the Code of Conduct developed by the AFL which directly governs
the guiding principals employed by all CSULB vendors, Neely said.
“
I don’t know if they abide by the policy or if they ever did,” said
Uduak-Joe Ntuk, former AS senator for the College of Engineering.
Ntuk brought light to the issue of possible sweatshop labor at CSULB when he
was a senator and has been concerned with the issue ever since.
Ntuk said even though CSULB has policies and monitoring organizations that
enforce CSULB’s Code of Conduct, products sold at the university bookstore
and 49er shops are still produced in countries where cheap labor is utilized.
As shown on the clothing labels, CSULB apparel is produced in companies where
the average hourly wage in apparel is considerably lower than that of the United
States.
Such countries include China, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Vietnam,
Taiwan and Pakistan.
According to sweatshopwatch.org, the average hourly wage in the apparel industry
for Mexico is $1.75, El Salvador $1.08, China $0.86 and $0.23 for Pakistan.
“
It’s the global north exploiting the global south for cheap
labor,” Ntuk said. “Citizens in the Western Hemisphere
have the responsibility to value everyone equally.”
In regards to adhering to all policies, laws, organizations and regulations,
Neely said CSULB’s vendors do not use sweatshop labor.
Neely said there are some times when school organizations produce school apparel
but unknowingly use vendors that are not FLA certified.
“
The hard part is dealing with other school organizations,” said
Neely. “It happens about once or twice a semester.
Different groups don’t know that vendors have to be licensed and we are
responsible for anybody producing garments
or apparel with a CSULB logo.”
All CSULB apparel is licensed by the FLA, containing a label stating “Collegiate
Licensed Products.”
Complaints and applications for FLA membership can be attained by visiting
the FLA Web site, www.farilabor.org.
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