Associated Students of the University of Washington
Student Senate
Session 16
 

A Resolution Demanding Remediation of the Nike Corporation

WHEREAS the University of Washington is a dues-paying member of the monitoring organization, the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC); and

WHEREAS the WRC seeks to “protect the rights of workers;” and

WHEREAS the University of Washington, through its affiliation with WRC, hopes to “ensure that products bearing University marks are not manufactured by companies utilizing abusive labor practices;” and

WHEREAS the UW Code of Conduct obligates Nike to ensure that labor rights violations by its contractors are remedied, and

WHEREAS two factories in Honduras that are subcontracted by Nike—Vision Tex and Hugger de Honduras—closed their facilities on 19 January 2009 without any prior notice to their employees; and

WHEREAS the WRC reports that the employees who worked at these factories are legally owed $2,176,265.36 in severance compensation; and

WHEREAS since Nike’s subcontractors cannot reasonably be expected to compensate their employees sufficiently, responsibility for this is transferred to Nike’s contractors—the two factories’ primary direct buyers prior to the factories’ closure—New Holland Lingerie (at Vision Tex) and Anvil Knitwear and Haddad Apparel Group (at Hugger); and

WHEREAS the UW President’s Advisory Committee on Trademarks and Licensing has determined that Nike has violated the UW Code of Conduct through its failure to apply a reasonable amount of pressure on its contractors to compensate duly the workers in the formerly subcontracted companies; and

WHEREAS an approach where the licensee compels its contractors to remedy labor rights violations has been successfully employed before, with the most recent example being the Estofel plant in Guatemala; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE ASSOCIATED STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON:

THAT ASUW calls on President Mark Emmert to demand that the Nike Corporation remedy its violations of the University of Washington Code of Conduct; and

THAT ASUW further urges President Emmert to put Nike on notice for its code of conduct violations; and

THAT the ASUW requests that the University annul this contract with Nike should Nike fail to remedy these violations by any final deadline set by President Emmert; and

THAT a copy of this resolution be forwarded to President Mark Emmert, Provost Phyllis Wise, the University of Washington Board of Regents, and all institutions of higher education that have exclusivity contracts with the Nike Corporation.

1. http://www.workersrights.org/about/

2. http://www.washington.edu/admin/pubserv/tdmks/conduct.php

3. WRC Assessment re Hugger de Honduras and Vision Tex, page 2, http://www.workersrights.org/Freports/Hugger%20de%20Honduras%20and%20Vision%20Tex.asp

History of Legislation

11/23/2009: Submitted for consideration
11/26/2009: Referred to the Steering Committee
11/29/2009: Amended by the Steering Committee
11/29/2009: Reported Without Opinion by the Steering Committee
12/01/2009: Placed on First Reading
12/01/2009: Referred to the Academic Affairs Committee
12/08/2009: Amended by the Academic Affairs Committee
12/08/2009: Reported Without Opinion by the Academic Affairs Committee
12/08/2009: Referred to the Steering Committee
12/09/2009: Reported Without Opinion by the Steering Committee
1/05/2010: Placed on First Reading
1/05/2010: Placed on Second Reading
01/12/2010: Amended by the Senate
01/12/2010: Passed by the Senate
01/14/2010: Approved by the Board of Directors

Legislation ID:
R-16-9

Date Submitted:
11/23/2009

Sponsor:
Andrew Schwartz, ASUW Representative to the Advisory Committee on Trademarks and Licensing

Cosponsor(s):
Doug McManaway, ASUW member
Madeleine McKenna, ASUW Vice-President
Igor Cherny, Academic and Administration Affairs Committee Chair