United Students Against Sweatshops Targets David Stern, Russell Athletic at NBA Finals
Submitted by joe p on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 6:21pm. Students and an alum of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee traveled to Orlando, Florida this past week to participate in anti-sweatshop actions during the NBA finals. Russell Athletic, a subsidiary of Fruit of the Loom owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, currently holds a $125 million contract with the National Basketball Association. The company recently came under fire after it closed its Jerzees de Hondurus factory following employees' attempts to unionize. The move cost 1800 jobs. In the wake of two US worker tours, 74 universities have cut licensing contracts with Russell, refusing to do business with the company until it reopens the factory (see previous story). Now the target is NBA commissioner David Stern
Update on the Russell Campaign!
Submitted by marley moynahan on Fri, 05/22/2009 - 9:55pm.
As you will remember, Georgetown was the second school in the country to cut its contract with Russell Athletic for blatant labor rights abuses that flew in the face of Georgetown's Code of Conduct. Since then, over 60 Universities around the country have cut their contract with Russell to show their solidarity with the workers of Honduran factories! This is a record-setting, powerful message from not only Universities and their students, but major retailers and the U.S. Congress! Check out the Rein in Russell Blog for more updates!
CIW Launches the Dine with Dignity Campaign!
Submitted by marley moynahan on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 1:38pm.
Student Farmworker Alliance Launches the Dine with Dignity Campaign!
Press Release:
IMMOKALEE, FL – The Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) has launched the “Dine with Dignity” campaign to educate and mobilize students across the U.S. about the role of food service provider industry leaders Aramark, Compass (and its subsidiary Chartwells) and Sodexo in perpetuating farmworker poverty and human rights abuses. The SFA is calling on these three corporations to follow the example of food industry leaders Yum Brands, McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway and Whole Foods in partnering with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) – an internationally recognized, award-winning farmworker organization based in southern Florida – to directly improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers.
read more!
Turn the Tide Against Hate: Immigration Teach-In
Submitted by marley moynahan on Sat, 02/21/2009 - 11:02pm.
On February 4, 2009 Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa, Arizona marched 200 chained and shackled immigrants from a detention center to a segregated "tent city," in the desert surrounded by a recently installed electric fence, where it will soon reach 120 degrees daily. Sheriff Arpaio has cut their access to health care and plans to force them to work in chain gangs if they "misbehave." He issued a press release the day before inviting the press to witness the forced march through the streets of Phoenix, Arizona. The House Judiciary Committee recently issued a letter stating that, "racial profiling and segregation are not acceptable" and demanded that the Department of Justice investigate Arpaio's tactics.
