Students at University of Washington Win Sweat-Free Apparel Policy
On May 15th, members of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) at the University of Washington won a major victory in the national movement to make university apparel sweat-free when University President Mark Emmert announced his decision to support the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP). Click here to read the entire statement.
UW SLAP members ran a year long campaign which included:
- A Sweatshop clothesline that educated UW students about where UW Apparel is made and under what kind of working conditions (pictured above)
- Mock-wedding between the University of Washington and the DSP (see the video clip here)
- March, rally and banner drop during “Washington Weekend” when incoming freshman, parents and alumni toured the UW campus (see pictures of the action here)
These creative actions were in addition to hosting multiple speakers, regular tabling, a petition campaign, and other educational events. In addition, SLAP had two representatives on the UW's Licensing Advisory Committee, a committee created by President Emmert to explore whether or not the UW should support the DSP.
Once implemented, the DSP will ensure that all apparel bearing a Husky logo is produced at a factory where workers have a voice on the job and a living wage. Members of UW SLAP will be closely monitoring the implementation of this new program over the coming years . . . stay tuned for upcoming actions!
Portland JwJ Stands for Workers During ICE Raid
Portland JwJ has been at the center of Immigrant Rights organizing this summer. JwJ was one of the first groups on the scene as ICE carried out a massive worksite raid on June 12th, arresting 167 workers. The local Immigrant Rights Coalition had information that the raid was coming and JwJ worked to set up a rapid response phone tree, organize legal observers, and prepare to respond to the devastation this would have on the community. Portland JwJ helped organize a press conference where statements denouncing the raid were made by local faith leaders, state legislators, and the mayor.
After the raid, local organizations divided up the work, some focusing on the immediate needs of the affected families, others working on the political response. In addition to the media work, JwJ organized two protests—one in the face of anti-immigrant protesters denouncing the mayor for his statement, and another at the ICE office, where one of the detainees spoke out. The protests were incredibly powerful. Crucial to JwJ’s ability to mobilize allies was the groundwork they laid last year—doing educational forums, train the trainer events, and lots of actions—helping to ensure that organized labor stood more firmly behind the rights of immigrant workers.
Tacoma Macy’s Workers Get Justice - Boycott Over!
JwJ activists might recall that Tacoma Macy’s Vice-President Carol Lorton won JwJ’s 2006 Pierce County ‘Grinch of the Year’ contest. Lorton won the award for unfair quotas, denying workers raises, denying more than half of the workers affordable health care, and yelling at workers for exercising their legal right to organize.
Members and leaders of UFCW Local 367 working at Tacoma Macy’s have beat back a major attack on living wages and health care. The workers recently voted to approve a new union contract after organizing for months to repel a corporate strategy to destroy the union at Macy’s and impose the poverty-wage job conditions common in the retail industry. Union members prevailed with the support of Jobs with Justice actions that garnered media and enhanced a consumer boycott that deeply impacted corporate Macy’s local profit margins. The I-5 Fife lit billboard screen will no longer read “Macy’s Unfair to Workers.”
When even the Bush-appointed National Labor Relations Board indicted Macy’s management for illegal worker rights violations recently, Macy’s executives moved quickly to dissolve their anti-union campaign, resolve contentious negotiations, and avoid an escalating community campaign to expose the company’s practices. Macy’s executives will remember that the union members of UFCW local 367 in Tacoma will powerfully struggle to preserve local living-wage jobs, especially when the union contract expires again in a few years, and that local workers in struggle are supported by a vibrant local labor movement and broader worker rights community.
City of Tacoma Raises Job Standards for New Project. Is Ruston Next?
The Tacoma City Council has set a new precedent for a tax-subsidized property development at Urban Waters. The city will not only enforce living wages, local hiring, and using reputable construction career training programs during construction, but also will, “Ensure livable wages for maintenance staff after completion.” Council-member Stenger conditioned his swing vote to support this project scheme upon raising job standards. Standards for local projects need to rise in order to stem area poverty growing due to a flood of new low-wage construction and service jobs.
This shift comes after JwJ launched a project to link government welfare for developers with a fair jobs and housing policy. JwJ coordinated many local organizations, conducting months of dialogue with the Tacoma City Council and industry-leading developers. The Urban Waters living wage jobs issue surfaced at the City Council when Mark Martinez of the Building Trades Council posed questions of the project. Given the pattern of poverty wages on Tacoma construction jobs, a victory like this will not happen unless without strong community activism. The original Urban Waters property purchase raised serious flags when it was reported that the City was looking to save money on construction by privatizing the project. This is usually code for finding a way to pay poverty wages instead of paying government required living wages. For background, see the Tacoma News Tribune article.
It remains to be seen whether the City of Tacoma will apply this higher standard to many of the high-end residential projects subsidized with local tax-dollars. The City purchased the Urban Waters property from the poverty-wage paying developer Mike Cohen for more than 5 times the price that Cohen paid just a few years earlier. Mike Cohen is gaining notoriety for his hostile response to the living wage jobs and affordable housing campaign and for his aggressive attack on the quality of life in Ruston where he plans to build an 800 luxury home and commercial village development on top of the Asarco toxic Superfund site. Check out the article in a Ruston town civic newsletter.
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