The University reaffirmed its commitment to fair labor practices Wednesday--even though impending changes to the international market may mean that Duke could have to increase prices on its apparel.
The University reaffirmed its commitment to fair labor practices Wednesday—even though impending changes to the international market may mean that Duke could have to increase prices on its apparel.
The Multi-fiber Agreement, a 30-year-old multilateral treaty that establishes export quotas for all textile-producing nations, will expire at the beginning of 2005. No longer restricted by this framework, many textile manufacturers will have incentive to move their operations to countries that were previously exporting at their quota. Many of these countries also enforce lower standards for worker’s rights.
Duke has applied a comprehensive code of conduct to the companies that make its licensed products since 1998. Executive Vice President Tallman Trask wrote a letter to Students Against Sweatshops Wednesday, reiterating the University’s fair labor policy even after the MFA becomes defunct.
“Duke will not permit its licensees to shift production of Duke merchandise to facilities which do not meet our existing standards,” Trask wrote to SAS, which has repeatedly petitioned the University administration to stick by its code of conduct following the MFA’s termination.
In accordance with the Code of Conduct for Duke University Licensees, the University will automatically sever ties with any manufacturer that relocates factories to a country where the laws prohibit compliance with Duke’s criteria, said Jim Wilkerson, director of Duke Stores. The University will also examine factory relocations to countries where laws do not directly conflict with the Code of Conduct.
“This might make it a bit more difficult for [licensees to relocate],” Wilkerson said. “They recognize that we are very serious.”
Trask noted that the licensees were less likely to move if faced with the threat of losing Duke’s business and said the change in products would be minimal if the University did break ties with any licensees.
“The worst that could happen is that the price of Duke T-shirts will go up a few dollars,” he said.
With the MFA on its last legs, Wilkerson said many textile companies—including several that produce Duke-licensed material—plan to relocate their operations to certain countries that explicitly forbid their workers to practice free assembly and collective bargaining, rights that are protected by the Code of Conduct.
The Code of Conduct lays out many standards—ethical, environmental and legal—for any manufacturer of Duke-licensed goods, but its most detailed component is a list of standards for employment conditions.
These expectations forbid child labor, forced servitude, workplace abuse and other offenses. Although Duke itself relies on other institutions to inspect factories, Trask said he is confident that the University will be aware of its licensees’ workplace conditions.
Duke will solicit information about labor conditions from workers’ groups such as the Fair Labor Association and the Worker Rights Consortium, as well as the U.S. government and human rights watchdog groups.
The University does not desire to end ties with its licensees, Wilkerson said, but rather to compel them to maintain factories where labor conditions are up to Duke’s standards.
“It is true that in China, in Vietnam, in Myanmar... the laws there specifically prohibit compliance with the Code of Conduct,” Wilkerson said. “The one provision [of the Code of Conduct] that would be at the greatest risk is... the right and the ability of the workers to join together.”
SAS applauded the University’s decision but advocated for still stricter enforcement of the Code of Conduct.
“We welcome the administration’s response,” said junior Jennifer Chien, a member of SAS. “However, we are deeply concerned in that our Code of Conduct does not provide a means to enforce itself.”
Chien also noted that the MFA’s expiration has already begun to cause factories to migrate, citing a recent announcement by a licensee that had provided adequate labor conditions and was now moving its factory from Indonesia to China.
Regardless of criticisms of the Code of Conduct, administrators consider the University’s affirmation of labor rights a moral victory.
“I thought it was imperative that we make an early, strong, principled stand,” Trask said.
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