UW-Madison officials announced Thursday the university will no longer do business with Russell Athletics, which makes apparel with the UW logo, because the company might be violating workers' rights.
After Russell announced it would close one of its factories in Choloma, Honduras, in 2008, workers' rights groups suspected unionizing efforts were the cause of the closure, which left 1,800 workers without jobs.
The Worker Rights Consortium released a report in November 2008 that pointed to a number of factors, such as the timing of the announcement and threats from managers to workers, as evidence Russell closed the plant in retaliation against workers' efforts to organize.
Dawn Crim, special assistant to the chancellor for community relations, said the university has been waiting for answers to questions about these activities since October, and even after evaluating several reports and talking directly with Russell executives, the role unionizing played in the closure is still unclear.
These unanswered questions are grounds for the university's decision, according to Crim.
Freedom of association is something that we take very seriously. It's part of our expectations of our business relationships,"" she said.
Russell Athletics could not be reached for comment.
""We are very pleased the university has terminated the Russell contract, and I think it sends a strong message to Russell that universities won't tolerate violations of workers' rights,"" said UW-Madison senior Jan Van Tol, who is part of the Student Labor Action Coalition, a campus group that has pushed to end relations with the company.
In 2008, UW-Madison cut its contract with New Era, a company that made hats with the UW logo, after similar allegations arose. Van Tol said he hopes Chancellor Biddy Martin follows through with the university's commitment to prevent these kinds of abuses and buy more products from companies that allow unions.
""I think [ending the contract] needed to happen. It's unfortunate that it did, but we had to send the message that its not OK to retaliate against workers for simply unionizing,"" UW-Madison senior and SLAC member Phoebe Taurick said.
Two union leaders from the Honduras factory will speak about their experiences Tuesday in B130 Van Vleck Hall at 7 p.m.
