In a letter to students last semester concerning UW-Madison's use of sweatshop-made clothing, Chancellor John Wiley wrote that he supports the \fundamental features of worker rights."" In reality, however, Wiley has done little to improve local working conditions and hindered actions to ensure the rights of workers in sweatshops abroad.
He recently announced that the UW-Madison administration is strongly considering rejoining the corporate-sponsored Fair Labor Association. The Clinton administration created the FLA as a response to students and labor unions that were pressuring universities to stop using sweatshops. Students are opposed to rejoining the FLA because the governing board consists of corporations that profit from sweatshop labor and refuse to disclose the location and conditions of their factories.
Hundreds of students occupied former chancellor Ward's office when he disregarded the recommendations of faculty and students that UW-Madison instead join the community-based Worker Rights Consortium. The WRC's board of directors consists of independent student, labor and human rights monitoring groups. Unlike the FLA, WRC members are not on the payrolls of private corporations.
Wiley should not plow ahead with an unpopular and unilateral decision to rejoin the FLA, especially when he has shown apathy toward the concerns of local working people. The nurses at UW Hospital are one example. They have waged a long struggle against mandatory overtime. In their present contract, UW nurses can be required to stay up to eight hours longer than their regularly scheduled shift.
This means nurses who normally work the 3 to 11 p.m. shift can be forced to continue working until 7 a.m. the next day. If a nurse has to get up at 8 a.m. with her children, being forced to work a double shift requires that she be awake for at least 23 hours straight. During contract negotiations, UW Hospital officials have refused to eliminate this dangerous practice. As a member of the Public Authority in control of UW Hospital, Wiley should publicly and privately pressure its other members to prioritize quality patient care.
In addition, the UW-Madison administration has done little to back up demands that would strengthen UW System employees' working conditions during recent and ongoing contract negotiations. State wages have been stagnant for the past 10 years. Both custodians and dishwashers earn only $8.68 per hour. Low wages have led to a persistent turnover rate and a deteriorating quality of life for workers and their families. UW System employees are asking for fair raises and the university should publicly support their efforts.
A disturbing trend of devaluing the public interest has left students and community members angry. Not only have students faced crippling tuition hikes, but UW-Madison is ranked in the bottom tenth of the top 30 public universities in racial minority representation. When UW-Madison administrators agreed to support Plan 2008, they also agreed to increase the number of faculty, staff and administrators of color. However, little improvement has been made to address this goal.
While the biotechnology industry and the Kraft Foods get millions of public dollars from UW System Board of Regents, students are told to take out another loan. Not much will change until students start to take an active interest in making the university accountable to the public.
A forum where students will be able to hear more about UW-Madison's bad labor practices will be held Thursday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Red Gym. Speakers will include: Bonnie Strauss, union representative of the UW nurses' local Service Employees International Union 1199; Randy Brink, union representative of the UW American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local 171; Jennifer Eppes, UW-Madison Associated Students of Madison Diversity Chair; and Valerie Carroll, member of the Madison Anti-Sweatshop Coalition.
