SDS Questions Use of Sweatshop Materials

By Broadside Staff Writer Tina Miller
Photo by Courtney McCarrick

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, about 15 George Mason University students participated in a rally, marching from the ground floor of the Johnson Center toward a stage in front of the university bookstore. To a student-filled JC, they said, “We want to make Mason sweatshop free! We have the power, as students, to make a stand.”

For almost a year, members of Students for a Democratic Society have been questioning the use of sweatshop materials in Mason’s bookstore. Last October, they set up a display in the North Plaza to raise awareness about the issue.

Last spring, the group gathered 1,200 signatures that encouraged the Mason administration to address the situation.

“We’ve again collected about 1,000 signatures, but now we’re being more specific with the administration,” said SDS member Chloe Briede. “This time we want them to affiliate with the Workers’ Rights Consortium and sign onto the Designated Suppliers Program.”

Currently, Mason is affiliated with the Fair Labor Association, whose mission, as its website claims, is to “protect worker’s rights and improve working conditions worldwide by promoting adherence to international labor standards.”

However, it is the goal of SDS that Mason becomes affiliated with the WRC in order to make a difference.

“The FLA is a corporate entity that is not set up to work for workers,” said prominent SDS member Jasper Conner, “while the WRA does a better job at addressing worker’s concerns.”

Specifically, the SDS wants Mason to sign onto the WRC’s Designated Supplier Program. This would lock Mason into a plan in which they gradually attain apparel from suppliers under DSP regulations over the course of, at minimum, three years.

To raise awareness this semester, the SDS held a rally, which included a protest to the administration and a few pre-rally speeches.

One of the guest speakers was Mike Hachey, a union organizer with Unite Here.

“Unite Here is a national union with over 450,000 workers in the U.S. and Canada,” Hachey said. “We work mainly with hotels, but I’m here to connect the struggle of immigrant hotel workers and people who make shirts in El Salvador.”

The initial agenda of the rally was to begin in the JC, then take the 1,000 signatures to a scheduled meeting with the administration in Student Union Building II.

The rally began according to planned, as the students went out of the JC and into the rain, holding signs with the words, “Affiliate with the WRC now” and chanting “What’s disgusting? Union busting! What’s outrageous? Sweatshop wages!”

Once the students arrived at the SUB II building, the meeting had been canceled.

Conner suspects that the meeting was canceled on account of the rally. “They’ve been stalling this issue for a year now,” Conner said. He then proceeded to lead the rally to Mason Hall.

The rally ended up at the office of the president, where students spoke with University Chief of Staff, Dr. Thomas Hennessey, who took the SDS’ stack of signatures, telling the students, “Mason is already affiliated with the Fair Labor Association, but we will continue to address the issue and do the right thing.”

“Doing the right thing isn’t specific enough,” one student protested and continued to do so, until he was escorted outside the office by a police officer who had just arrived.
“If you will call and make an appointment, I will be delighted to talk to a small group,” Hennessey said, as he returned into his office. The remaining students continued their protests for another five minutes, until they were also escorted from the building.

At the end of the rally, there were a total of four officials overseeing the close of the event.

“The university is always open to student concerns, even when presented in less than appropriate circumstances,” Hennessey said when approached about the event. “While one meeting may have been canceled or postponed, that in no way represents a university position. It is my hope that a meeting with student representatives in the near future will permit us to discuss this matter in a less charged atmosphere.”

The SDS said that although the rally did not occur according to plan, the group members felt as though they were heard on campus by both students and the administration. When asked if they were going to hold any more events pertaining to the issue, Conner said, “We’re going to win.”