United Students Against Sweatshops Syracuse will meet with Chancellor Kent Syverud Thursday afternoon to thank the administration for taking action against sweatshops.

The group will present Syverud with a vase to mark the one-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse, said Jose Godinez, USAS president.  Rana Plaza, an eight story commercial building in a city right outside Dhaka, collapsed on April 24, 2013, killing more than 1,100 workers in garment and apparel factories.

“If you fill a vase up too much, it will overflow,” Godinez said. “We’re going to fill the vase up with rice and so already, this many lives have been lost. So do you want it to be on your shoulders for the vase to overflow?”

In March, Syracuse University announced a policy requiring all of its licensees producing and sourcing goods from Bangladesh to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs at SU, said in an email. The accord was created to make all garment and apparel factories in Bangladesh safe workplaces, according to the accord’s website.

Failure to sign the accord by June 30 will result in the termination of the company’s license agreement with SU, according to the letter sent to the licensees. The policy will commence on July 1. SU is one of only 16 universities nationally requiring its licensees to sign the accord, Quinn said.

After the Rana Plaza collapse, the accord gained momentum and more than 150 brands having signed the accord. But VF Corporation, which is the parent company of brands that manufacture SU apparel, has not signed, Godinez said. He wants that to change.

“Brands like VF should be expected to do the same as the other brands and sign the accord, especially if they are making SU apparel,” he said. “While the collapse is a terrible tragedy, it has given us the opportunity to say ‘no more’ and ‘this is enough,’” Godinez said.

While Godinez said USAS Syracuse is happy with the university’s efforts so far, the group also wants to make sure the efforts continue.

“We can’t just say ‘We’ve made this requirement, that’s where it ends,’” he said. “This is a continuing issue and SU should stay at the forefront of it, as it has thus far. Staying at the forefront means not allowing companies like VF to get away with cutting and running, which they have done so far.”

Cutting and running is a term used to describe when a brand cuts its apparel from one factory and finds a cheaper factory, Godinez said. Cutting and running usually happens when workers are unionizing or standing up for their rights.

USAS was founded in 1997 with affiliates at more than 150 colleges and universities, according to the organization’s website. The SU chapter of the organization was created about a year ago, Godinez said.

Godinez said the three issues that are most prevalent in sweatshops are the treatment of the workers, the safety in the factories and the rights of the workers in the factories.

USAS Syracuse has big goals for the future, including solving those issues, and wants to work side-by-side with SU to accomplish what needs to be done, Godinez said.

Said Godinez: “We’re going to have a flower there as the hope that, as an institution, we can keep the vase at where it is and no more lives have to be lost.”

Published on April 24, 2014 at 12:53 am

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306