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SOU views sweatshop code draft By John Darling ASHLAND � A draft Code of Conduct aimed at banning sweatshop products is being considered at Southern Oregon University amid warnings from activists that it provides no way to monitor violations. The school�s Bookstore Advisory Committee on Jan. 24 published its draft code, attempting to stop sweatshop manufacture of SOU logo clothing sold in the school bookstore and used by athletic teams. The draft code specifies: No child labor (under 15), prison labor or indentured labor. At least minimum wage or "living wage," whichever is greater. A work week of no more than 48 hours, one day a week off and pay for overtime. Safe, non-toxic workplace. No discrimination. Right to collective bargaining. Equal pay and treatment for women, no pregnancy tests, no forced birth control. No physical, sexual or verbal abuse or corporal punishment. The code is undergoing a month long comment period with various campus committees and the student and faculty senates. Then, if approved by the SOU Executive Council, it will be signed by the university president and sent on to the Board of Higher Education for final approval. "It will be difficult to understand where the clothes come from," said acting SOU President Sara Hopkins-Powell. "It may say, assembled in country X, with components from country Y. The vendors may say it�s being made in humane conditions in their factories, but then they have many subcontractors and things may be different there." But it�s the "right role" for the university to be discussing such issues and "adding pebbles to the stream" of social change, she said. The Student Senate, Faculty Senate and the Oregon Public Employees Union local on campus voted last year for the university to join the Workers Rights Consortium, a monitoring group. But Hopkins-Powell ordered an internally generated Code of Conduct instead. "The problem with the code is it�s just words," said Wes Brain, campus safety officer and OPEU shop steward. "It might sound nice and make us feel good, but it has no teeth. There�s no way of enforcing it. If a company says they�re following the code, you can�t believe that. You have to have an external monitor." SOU student Kerul Dyer, a member of the Bookstore Advisory Committee, called the code "powerless" and predicted its language would be softened by university administrators. "It�s not worth the paper it�s written on because there�s no monitoring system," she said. The code is patterned after the one used by the University of California system. It requires vendors to sign it and says those who decline will not be given preference in SOU purchases. On the net: www.sou.edu/senate/wrcfla.html . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.