Students Against Sweatshops

UNITED STUDENTS against Sweatshops (USAS) is an international organization of student organizations at both the campus and the individual level, dedicated to improving labor rights and ending sweatshop conditions. The sweatshop is defined quite broadly as being any workplace in which people are required to work for very low wages in poor or unsafe conditions. Nevertheless, the term is most commonly encountered in reference to the apparel industry.

USAS has campaigned to ensure that the universities they attend adhere to the same high principles and standards that the student members support. This is [Page 1034]founded on three core programs: the Sweat-Free Campus Campaign, the Ethical Contracting Campaign, and the Campus Living Wage Campaign. These are pursued with the application of four principles: “We work in solidarity with working people's struggles. We struggle against racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of oppression within our society, within our organizations, and within ourselves. We are working in coalition to build a grassroots student movement that challenges corporate power and that fights for economic justice. We strive to act democratically.”

The origin of USAS shows the growing importance of information technology, especially the internet, in locating and disseminating information rapidly across large geographical distances, as well as the increase in the power of consumer activism. Concerned students became aware of the practices of some multinational clothing companies in locating factories overseas and filling them with low-wage labor. This was not a new phenomenon, but the technology enabled news of these activities to spread to the customers of the developed world and then to other interested people. The personal reports from workers proved to be particularly persuasive.

In 1998, student delegates from 30 different educational institutions met in New York to establish USAS, which then had two main goals: “1) to provide coordination and communication between the many campus campaigns and 2) to coordinate student participation and action around the national, intercollegiate debate around Codes of Conduct and monitoring systems.” The campaign then spread very rapidly to more than 100 institutions and evolved into its current form.

University merchandising of clothing with official logos added is a market worth approximately $2.5 billion per year, and most university executives were mindful of this stream of revenue when students began to demand transparency in the sourcing of these products and guarantees of good practice in their production. Sit-ins and protests led to some arrests and fines, but in terms of causing universities to change their corporate sourcing practices they must be considered a qualified success. Further, a number of very well-known branded clothing corporations have become much more open about their labor practices.

USAS is led by a committee of 13 students elected by the entire membership of the network. Part-time regional organizers coordinate activities across North America, and the USAS accepts donations to support its activities. Although interest in partisan politics among young people seems to be at a low ebb, single-issue politics still excites and stimulates widespread participation in the political process.