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{{Short description|United States student organization for worker rights}}
⚫ {{Infobox Organization
{{more citations needed|date=May 2015}}
⚫ {{Infobox organization
|name = '''United Students Against Sweatshops''' |name = '''United Students Against Sweatshops'''
|image = ] |image = StudentsMarchOnRussellHQ.jpg
|caption = Members of United Students Against Sweatshops march outside the offices of Russell Corporation in Atlanta GA, during a protest against Russell's worker rights violations at its Honduras factories.
|image_border =
⚫ |formation=1998<ref name="Kimura-Walsh2008">{{cite book|last=Kimura-Walsh|first=Erin|author2=Walter R. Allen |title=Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies |year=2008|chapter=Globalization from above, globalization from below: Mechanisms for social disparity and social justice in higher education|series=Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research, Policy and Praxis |volume=6|pages=201–230|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yH98dpkdM84C&pg=PA215|issn=1479-358X|doi=10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06008-7|isbn=978-1-84855-184-8 }}</ref>
|size = 166px
|caption =
⚫ |formation=1998<ref name="Kimura-Walsh2008">{{cite journal|last=Kimura-Walsh|first=Erin|author2=Walter R. Allen |year=2008|title=Globalization from above, globalization from below: Mechanisms for social disparity and social justice in higher education|volume=6|pages=201–230|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=yH98dpkdM84C&pg=PA215|issn=1479-358X|doi=10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06008-7}}</ref>
|abbreviation=USAS (pronounced "you-sass") |abbreviation=USAS (pronounced "you-sass")
|type=Student activist organization |type=Student activist organization
|purpose=To work in solidarity with working peoples' struggles; to struggle against racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and other forms of oppression within our society, within our organizations, and within ourselves; to build a grassroots student movement that challenges corporate power and that fights for economic justice; and to strive to act democratically.
|location=North America |location=North America
|membership =250+ chapters & thousands of individuals |membership =
|website=http://usas.org |website={{URL|http://usas.org}}
}} }}
=== History ===
⚫ '''United Students Against Sweatshops''' (USAS) is a student organization founded in 1998 with chapters at over 250 colleges and universities in the ] and ]. In April 2000, USAS founded the ] (WRC), an independent monitoring organization that investigates labor conditions in factories that produce collegiate apparel all over the world. The WRC exacts an annual membership fee from participating universities, which is used to fund its monitoring work.


⚫ '''United Students Against Sweatshops''' ('''USAS''') is a student organization founded in 1998 with chapters at over 250 colleges and universities in the ] and ]. In April 2000, USAS founded the ] (WRC), an independent monitoring organization that investigates labor conditions in factories that produce collegiate apparel all over the world. The WRC exacts an annual membership fee from participating universities, which is used to fund its monitoring work.
⚫ The WRC works with ]s, ] groups, and local labor unions or federations, in countries where collegiate apparel is produced. At present over 180 universities and colleges have affiliated with the WRC. USAS is also proposing that universities strengthen the WRC's effectiveness by signing on to the ], or DSP, which would act to source collegiate apparel from factories that respect workers' rights to form unions and be paid living wages. As of Fall 2008, 44 colleges have signed on to the DSP.

⚫ The WRC works with ]s, ] groups, and local labor unions or federations, in countries where collegiate apparel is produced. At present over 180 universities and colleges have affiliated with the WRC. USAS is also proposing that universities sign on to the ] (DSP), which would act to source collegiate apparel from factories that respect workers' rights to form unions and be paid living wages.


In 2000, ] and other major clothing corporations renamed the Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) the ] (FLA), in large part to compete with the WRC. The AIP, an initiative of the Clinton Administration, had become a discredited organization, because all non-profit organizations and unions that had initially supported it, withdrew from it, with the exception of the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), who subsequently withdrew their institutional membership on the FLA Board soon afterwards. In 2000, ] and other major clothing corporations renamed the Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) the ] (FLA), in large part to compete with the WRC. The AIP, an initiative of the Clinton Administration, had become a discredited organization, because all non-profit organizations and unions that had initially supported it, withdrew from it, with the exception of the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), who subsequently withdrew their institutional membership on the FLA Board soon afterwards.


⚫ Focusing on domestic as well as international ], the group has built coalitions of students, labor groups, workers, and community members that focus on a range of campaigns:
United Students Against Sweatshops is widely viewed as the largest ] community group in the United States and Canada. It was formed in 1997 as part of a broader anti-sweatshop movement increasingly popular in ]. This movement exhibited a great degree of skepticism of ] practices, such as the ] (NAFTA) or the proposed ] (FTAA).


⚫ *requesting that ] Athletic Brand significantly alter its labor policies in Central America<ref> 2004-2012.0.84 cubic feet (2 boxes) of textual materials plus 83.8 GB of digital files.</ref>
⚫ Focusing on domestic as well as international ], the group has built coalitions of students, labor groups, workers, and community members that focus on a broad range of campaigns:
*campaigning to get ] to pay severance pay to workers in Honduras laid off by subcontractors<ref>{{Cite news|last=Greenhouse|first=Steven|date=2010-07-26|title=Pressured, Nike to Help Workers in Honduras|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/business/global/27nike.html|access-date=2020-06-07|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

⚫ *protesting against ], board member of ] and president of the ], in relation to sweatshop conditions for Hanes workers in the ].<ref name="georgetown_JMatthews">{{cite web|last=Mahoney |first=Jack |title=TOS Workers' Protest Hanes Boardmember Jessica Matthews |publisher=Georgetown Solidarity Committee |date=2008-03-13 |url=http://www.georgetownsolidarity.org/node/109 |access-date=2008-03-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820000221/http://georgetownsolidarity.org/node/109 |archive-date=August 20, 2008 }}</ref>
⚫ *requesting that ] Athletic Brand significantly altered its labor policies in Central America<ref> 2004-2012.0.84 cubic feet (2 boxes) of textual materials plus 83.8 GB of digital files.</ref>
*supporting an anti-sweatshop policy called the ], which would source collegiate apparel from factories that respect workers' rights to form unions and be paid living wages
*supporting the ]' campaign against ] to win higher wages for farm laborers ("Boot the Bell")
*protesting sweatshop working conditions at ] in New York and ] in San Francisco
*] campaigns for campus workers
*organizing student labor solidarity groups in high schools
*protesting ]'s repression of ]
*supporting ] campaigns in local communities
*increased ] campaigns in several states and localities
⚫ *protesting against ], board member of ] and president of the ], in relation to sweatshop conditions for Hanes workers in the ].<ref name="georgetown_JMatthews">{{cite web| last =Mahoney| first =Jack| authorlink =| title =TOS Workers' Protest Hanes Boardmember Jessica Matthews| work =| publisher =Georgetown Solidarity Committee | date =2008-03-13| url =http://www.georgetownsolidarity.org/node/109 |format =| doi =| accessdate =2008-03-15}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

The group is based on the idea that students and community members can act in solidarity with working peoples' struggles locally and around the world. Because colleges and universities are supposed to be accountable to their communities, especially their students, USAS members have tried to leverage the business power of their schools to support workers on and off campus. For example, because universities license their names and logos to clothing brands, such as ], who then ] orders to other companies that further subcontract work to thousands of different factories, USAS considers the licensing stage as a way to force apparel corporations to stop exploiting workers in sweatshops. Although USAS started by focusing on international anti-sweatshop campaigns, the organization has broadened its definition of sweatshops to support workers' struggles in farm-fields, prisons, local communities and college campuses. USAS considers "all struggles for a better world and an alternative to the current structure of the global economy to be directly or by analogy a struggle against sweatshops." Today, USAS groups primarily focus on anti-sweatshop campaigns and working in solidarity with campus workers, or unions in local college communities.

The group has taken as its motto the quote "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together" by the aboriginal Australian activist ].


==See also== ==See also==
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==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{Reflist}}
{{refbegin}} {{Refbegin}}
{{Refend}}
⚫ * Book by journalist Liza Featherstone about USAS (ISBN 1-85984-302-6)
⚫ * in ] magazine
*
{{refend}}


==External links== ==External links==
* *
* *
⚫ * Book by journalist Liza Featherstone about USAS ({{ISBN|1-85984-302-6}})
⚫ * in '']'' magazine

{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 02:04, 23 October 2023

United States student organization for worker rights
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United Students Against Sweatshops
Members of United Students Against Sweatshops march outside the offices of Russell Corporation in Atlanta GA, during a protest against Russell's worker rights violations at its Honduras factories.
AbbreviationUSAS (pronounced "you-sass")
Formation1998
TypeStudent activist organization
Location
  • North America
Websiteusas.org

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is a student organization founded in 1998 with chapters at over 250 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In April 2000, USAS founded the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent monitoring organization that investigates labor conditions in factories that produce collegiate apparel all over the world. The WRC exacts an annual membership fee from participating universities, which is used to fund its monitoring work.

The WRC works with NGOs, human rights groups, and local labor unions or federations, in countries where collegiate apparel is produced. At present over 180 universities and colleges have affiliated with the WRC. USAS is also proposing that universities sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP), which would act to source collegiate apparel from factories that respect workers' rights to form unions and be paid living wages.

In 2000, Nike and other major clothing corporations renamed the Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) the Fair Labor Association (FLA), in large part to compete with the WRC. The AIP, an initiative of the Clinton Administration, had become a discredited organization, because all non-profit organizations and unions that had initially supported it, withdrew from it, with the exception of the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), who subsequently withdrew their institutional membership on the FLA Board soon afterwards.

Focusing on domestic as well as international sweatshops, the group has built coalitions of students, labor groups, workers, and community members that focus on a range of campaigns:

See also

References

  1. Kimura-Walsh, Erin; Walter R. Allen (2008). "Globalization from above, globalization from below: Mechanisms for social disparity and social justice in higher education". Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies. Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research, Policy and Praxis. Vol. 6. pp. 201–230. doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06008-7. ISBN 978-1-84855-184-8. ISSN 1479-358X.
  2. Brand Responsibility Project Records 2004-2012.0.84 cubic feet (2 boxes) of textual materials plus 83.8 GB of digital files.
  3. Greenhouse, Steven (2010-07-26). "Pressured, Nike to Help Workers in Honduras". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  4. Mahoney, Jack (2008-03-13). "TOS Workers' Protest Hanes Boardmember Jessica Matthews". Georgetown Solidarity Committee. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-15.

External links

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