T A S C   L E T T E R
To President Gilley


Dear President Gilley:

I am contacting you on behalf of the Tennessee Anti-Sweatshop Coalition (TASC). TASC was recently formed by students concerned with the issue of the production of university apparel in sweatshop conditions. As you may know, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville chapter of Amnesty International brought this issue to the attention of President Joe Johnson in February of 1999. Students from Amnesty and other student groups formed TASC because we found both his reply and subsequent inaction on the matter to be inadequate.


The University of Tennessee is one of the nation's leading institutions in the sale of licensed apparel and other goods. As such, we believe the university should be committed to ethical and legal business practices. The students and faculty of TASC have for the past year been actively participating in the national dialogue between students, university administrations, and human rights groups dedicated to eradicating sweatshop conditions in the manufacture of university licensed products. Having studied the issue in depth, we request that on behalf of the university you do the following: endorse the enclosed Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) Code of Conduct for production of university licensed products, as well as its verification model; formaln the Worker Rights Consortium; and require from all companies using UT's logo a legally binding commitment to the principles contained in the Code.


The Worker Rights Consortium is committed to ensuring that university apparel is produced under fair conditions in which workers' rights are respected. The Code of Conduct includes requirements for the freedom of association and collective bargaining, women's rights, a living wage, overtime compensation, and the prohibition of child labor and forced labor. The WRC's Code of Conduct is mirrored by a verification model in which contracting companies are required to publicly disclose factory locations, as well as information about wages, working hours, health and safety conditions, and local violations and citations. It is then the role of the WRC, operating independently of university licensing offices and industry representatives, to work with local, independent non-governmental organizations in the region to conduct random investigations and to monitor and verify worker complaints.


Representatives of the licensing and apparel industries have developed their own codes of conduct and monitoring systems. We feel very strongly that such industry self-regulation is inherently inadequate. For example, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) allows each member company to choose the agency that will inspect their factories, and the monitoring agency notifies the company in advance of their inspection. As another example, the Collegiate Licensing Company's (CLC) Code of Conduct does not even require public disclosure of factory locations. Without this essential provision, any sort of independent monitoring is impossible. Further, we urge you not to attend an upcoming conference of the Committee for Independent Intercollegiate Responsible Management (CIIRM) in Chicago, at which a similarly flawed initiative will be made public.


We take pride in the name and logo of the University of Tennessee. Products displaying its symbols should be produced under working conditions that reflect the dignity of our University. We urge you to join us in taking human rights seriously by adding UT to the Worker Rights Consortium.



We further request a meeting with you to discuss these issues as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Tennessee Anti-sweatshop Coalition