In a March 21 editorial, The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board referred to a ""recent disclosure of potential worker exploitation"" by Adidas, whom UW contracts for sportswear. This assumption, upon which the editorial was based, is false—the exploitation of workers in this case is not ""potential,"" and its disclosure is not ""recent.""
UW-Madison has known the facts for years. Most recently, in April 2006, the Workers' Rights Consortium, the monitoring body funded by this and other universities, issued a report unequivocally concluding that abuses had occurred. Later, in December 2006, the Fair Labor Association, a group funded by brands such as Adidas, confirmed the WRC report.
The editorial board further claimed that the FLA ""has established a fund to relieve the financial burden of the unemployed workers."" This is true—what the editorial failed to mention is that this fund has disbursed only 4 percent of the $825,000 that workers are owed. This fund is a public relations smokescreen, and The Daily Cardinal's decision to buy into Adidas' facade demonstrates irresponsible and lazy editorializing.
Asserting that ""SLAC should recognize the give and take"" sugarcoats and ignores the real issue. The central fact of the case, that Adidas violated the University's Code of Conduct, was confirmed by two international monitoring groups and further validated by UW's Labor Licensing Policy Committee. For years, Chancellor John Wiley has refused to act, and now, even in the face of unanimous expert opinion, continues to stall. How, exactly, is that a ""give and take?""
Jan Van Tol
Student Labor Action Coalition
