After several student demonstrations in recent weeks, President Nan Keohane announced Thursday that Duke would continue its boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company.
Keohane wrote in a letter to student labor activists that the boycott would continue until the North Carolina-based food producer takes more responsibility for labor practices on its supplier farms.
Keohane said the boycott is consistent with the University's previous statements on workers' rights.
"We do not believe that the Mt. Olive Pickle Company has in place an adequate monitoring system to assure consumer confidence that it is working to ensure fair labor conditions at the company's supplier farms," Keohane wrote in the three-page letter to Duke Students Against Sweatshops. "This action is in accord with our expressed commitment to hold companies responsible for monitoring the working conditions of workers in their sub-contracting units, and for the companies themselves to hold those units appropriately accountable for those conditions."
Under the boycott, Mt. Olive products are not available through University stores and eateries. Keohane said Duke will reconsider its policy only if an independent monitoring system is established similar to the one used for apparel that bears the Duke name. Jim Wilkerson, director of operations for Duke Stores, said
"We need a broad-based effort involving producers, growers, farm workers, farmers, labor advocates and consumers," he said.
Dining Services began the boycott five years ago and Duke Stores followed suit this fall when students raised the issue with administrators.
Students who have been advocating the boycott applauded Keohane's decision, and about 75 students and labor activists celebrated in front of the Allen Building Thursday afternoon. Protesters called on other organizations, especially local grocery stores, to join the boycott.
"The students at Duke University have shown that people that are organized get things done," said Nick Wood, a member of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, an Ohio-based union that has been involved in negotiations on campus.
Freshman Chris Paul said students from SAS and the Progressive Alliance will continue to boycott Mt. Olive until the company works with the FLOC to help organize unions for North Carolina farm workers, even if Mt. Olive establishes a monitoring system.
He added that 835 students signed a boycott petition.
Keohane said in her letter that Duke would not involve itself in union negotiations.
Mt. Olive officials expressed frustration with Keohane's decision. Company officials said that although they sent a letter to Duke arguing its side and requesting a meeting, they have not yet sat down with University administrators.
"We feel very good about the suppliers we do business with. We've had few problems over the years, and when we have, we've addressed them," said Mt. Olive spokesperson Lynn Williams.
"The point we find disagreement on is that we've asked repeatedly for specific complaints, and we've yet to receive that. It's hard for us to respond to vague unsubstantiated claims."
Keohane called students' allegations "verifiable information that workers are laboring under precarious working conditions."
Duke officials said their on-campus annual sales amounted to about $3,000 in the past, and Williams said the boycott has had little effect on the company. She repeated the company's position, however, that it should not be responsible for monitoring conditions on farms, and that the FLOC's union organizing should not just focus on one company. Other produce companies, such as Heinz and Vlasic, have similar policies, she said.
Wood said that Heinz and Vlasic are being more responsive than Mt. Olive, and that the North Carolina company is the only pickle company to refuse union negotiations. Wilkerson said Duke will investigate any other allegations that it hears of poor labor conditions.
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