Some student groups are still concerned UW-Madison is not taking enough action to confront Adidas on sweatshop abuses, even after the university agreed Wednesday to investigate first-hand the treatment of workers making UW gear.
The university is planning a summit with the executive leadership of Adidas, as well as sending Dawn Crim, assistant to the director of community relations in the chancellor's office, to El Salvador to gauge the situation and speak directly with the workers.
But some student groups are wary the two initiatives will not solve the problem soon enough.
""They need to cut the contract then negotiate,"" UW-Madison senior and Student Labor Action Coalition member Joel Feingold said. ""Workers' lives are on the line. The university has a moral responsibility to do something about it.""
If UW were to sever ties with Adidas there would be a 90-day waiting period between when the contract initially is cut and the deal is finalized. According to Feingold, this would give the university more than enough time to consider the Adidas contract.
""All they need to do for Adidas to take this seriously is to actually start the process,"" Feingold said.
Zack Knorr, international campaigns coordinator for United Students Against Sweatshops, said there is enough information for the university to cut the contract.
USAS has been working with Adidas for over a year to payback the workers at the Hermosa factory for the $825,000 it owes them in unpaid wages and health care.
However, Knorr said Hermosa is not the first instance of Adidas violating worker's rights. He said three additional sweatshop abuses have been linked to Adidas' violation of workers' rights, including a factory in the Dominican Republic and two factories in Indonesia.
According to the Assistant to the Chancellor LaMarr Billups, the university will take these incidents into consideration when reviewing the Adidas contract.
But Billups said regardless of whether there is a breach in the code of conduct, UW must still follow procedures before severing the contract.
Billups said Chancellor John Wiley is unsatisfied with the conflicting report findings of the several monitoring organizations that have visited Hermosa.
""We're taking more aggressive steps to find out the truth about the matter,"" Billups said.
According to Knorr, students should continue to mobilize on campus in order to urge the university to hold Adidas accountable for its actions.
Other universities, such as Georgetown University, have sent letters to Adidas regarding their alleged treatment of employees.
