The Student Association Assembly passed a resolution Tuesday that called for the UB administration to work with the Workers Rights Consortium via an internal monitoring board composed of students, faculty and administrators.
The resolution, which passed 18-4, also called for the administration to affiliate UB with the WRC, which is an independent monitoring body that investigates the business practices of companies producing merchandise bearing college and universities' logos.
If the university recognizes the resolution, the not-for profit WRC would work with the university in seeing that clothing adorned with the UB logo was not made in factories that exploited workers.
UBSAS member Colin O'Malley said he wanted to emphasize that the administration has not had a negative response to the organization's requests.
"It's been pretty positive," O'Malley said. "They've been pretty amicable, willing to listen. We're talking pretty much all the time."
According to Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs, via e-mail, "UB heard their request for WRC membership, and is looking at that and all other options, such as Collegiate Licensing and the Fair Labor Association."
According to their Web sites, the Collegiate Licensing Company and the Fair Labor Association are two organizations with similar goals as the WRC.
Member colleges and universities of the WRC must pay membership fees.
UBSAS President Colin O'Malley said that when a university makes an arrangement with a clothing company to make the university's apparel, the school would generally receive a seven percent share of the profits.
If UB becomes a member of the WRC, the organization would receive one percent of the licensing gross revenue, or one percent of the seven percent the university receives.
Black said that regardless of what organization the university affiliates itself with, "UB is in full compliance with the state's anti-sweatshop law, adopted last year."
According to legislation passed last year by Gov. George Pataki, all public schools in New York State have the power to refuse contracts with merchandisers who own or operate facilities that do not meet sufficient employee-safety standards.
Creighton Randall, a mechanical engineering major and a member of UB Students Against Sweatshops, said the WRC's goals are not to merely finger-point against companies who own sweatshops, but to attempt to solve problems within factories they see as needing reform.
Some of the reforms the WRC advocates include making sure that a living wage standard was being earned by workers, having workers' work week cut from 60 to 40 hours, and preventing children from working in the factories, said Randall.
He used an example of workers in Bangladesh, who said they often work up to 425 hours a month, at less than 20 cents an hour.
According to a list provided by UBSAS, the WRC works with 112 colleges and universities, including SUNY Cortland, as well as five other schools in New York State.
The proposal also calls on the SUNY system to maintain its history of ethical business, stating, "SUNY schools have shown their clear opposition to oppressive business practices by divesting $300 million during the 1980's from companies doing business with Apartheid-era South Africa."
O'Malley said UB would probably not pay more than $3,000 to $5,000 a year to join the WRC.
Ernest Imafidon, a first year graduate student, said he was in favor of UB joining the WRC, regardless of the membership fee.
"I think if we don't stop (sweatshops) here, it's going to spread," Imafidon said. "If you're silent, you accept it. UB has got to stand up."
According to the Frequently Asked Questions portion of the WRC's Web site, only 40 percent of its income is from affiliated colleges. The rest is raised from grants and donations. The organization is also seeking funding from the U.S. government.
Next year's budget is expected to be around half a million dollars, the FAQ stated.
SA Assemblyman Jonathan Yedin said he felt that getting involved with third-world workers' rights in this manner was not correct.
"Sweatshops are filling up, regardless of wages," Yedin said. "This matter is better left to the home countries.
Yedin said there are "better alternatives" to handling the problem of sweatshops abroad, such as "educating workers."
"We should let them make their own choices accordingly," said Yedin.
SA Assemblyman and UBSAS member Adam Waitzman said that rather than imposing American standards on foreign companies, the WRC works according to the laws of that nation and makes sure businesses obey those laws.
O'Malley said the WRC will seek support from other campus organizations.
"At this point, we need to take our agenda to other meetings, such as the Faculty Student Association," said O'Malley.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
