From: S Webb (sfwebb@usa.net)
Date: Wed Nov 14 2001 - 17:15:55 EST
USASistas...I think it's time to do a little celebrating!
Schools are joining the WRC left & right. And our struggles
with Kukdong are proving to have worked and be worth it!
There is a Kukdong Educational Tour sponsored by the WRC that
is coming up at schools around the country. For those of us
that were involved in getting Codes of Conduct or getting
our schools on the WRC and those that were in the middle
of the Kukdong campaign, let's celebrate our role! And for
those of us just getting started or still struggling along,
let's get even more educated and aware of the issues.
Let's get the numbers out, show support for this tour, show
that students continue to care....
Please advertise this event to anyone that you think would
be interested and get yourselves and others out to it if one
of these schools is not too far off the map.
All the info is below...
Itinerary
November 28: Washington DC
Georgetown University
November 29: Connecticut and Massachusetts
University of Connecticut and Harvard University
November 30: North Carolina
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
December 2: Indiana
Indiana University
December 3: Michigan
University of Michigan
December 4: Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin - Madison
December 5: California (San Jose and Bay Area)
San Jose State University and the University of California - Berkeley
December 6: California (Los Angeles)
University of Southern California
Speakers
· Marcela Muñoz Tepepa - Kukdong worker and the founding General Secretary of
the Independent Union of Mexmode Workers
· Ivan De Erick Diaz Xolo - Kukdong worker and another leader in the reform
effort at Kukdong
· Huberto Juárez Nuñez - Researcher in Economics at the Autonomous University
of Puebla
· Catalina Gúzman Albafull - Research Assistant in Economics at the Autonomous
University of Puebla
· Scott Nova - Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium
· Local Speakers
Kukdong Workers to Visit U.S. Colleges, Celebrate Labor Rights Breakthrough
Public Forums on 10 Campuses: November 28 - December 6
On September 21, workers at the Kukdong factory in Atlixco, Mexico signed a
new collective bargaining agreement with factory management, completing one of
the most important and inspiring victories for the cause of labor rights in
the world this year. A factory once dominated by an illegal and
unrepresentative labor union is now one of the only workplaces in the Mexican
garment industry with a democratic, independent union chosen by the workers
themselves. Other serious violations of worker rights have been eliminated at
Kukdong (now called Mexmode) and the prospects for further positive change and
a better life for the factory's workers are strong.
This Fall, workers from Kukdong will visit a dozen U.S. colleges and
universities to share their experiences and celebrate this extraordinary
labor
rights success with the students, administrators and faculty who helped
make
it happen. College and university Codes of Conduct played a central role in
correcting worker rights violations at Kukdong - demonstrating that U.S.
colleges and universities really can make a difference in working
conditions
abroad.
A forum will be held on each campus, featuring two workers from Kukdong,
both
leaders in the new union at the factory, and two leading Mexican labor
rights
researchers - they will speak about the experience at Kukdong and the road
ahead for labor rights efforts in Latin America. Staff from the Worker
Rights
Consortium - which played a key role through its investigation of rights
violations at Kukdong, will join them. WRC staffers will discuss the role
of
U.S. and international monitoring organizations, and of Nike and Reebok, in
the Kukdong case and the implications of this success for future efforts to
enforce college and university Codes of Conduct. At each school,
administration and student representatives will also speak.
Itinerary
November 28: Washington DC
Georgetown University
November 29: Connecticut and Massachusetts
University of Connecticut and Harvard University
November 30: North Carolina
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
December 2: Indiana
Indiana University
December 3: Michigan
University of Michigan
December 4: Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin - Madison
December 5: California (San Jose and Bay Area)
San Jose State University and the University of California - Berkeley
December 6: California (Los Angeles)
University of Southern California
Speakers
· Marcela Muñoz Tepepa - Kukdong worker and the founding General Secretary
of
the Independent Union of Mexmode Workers
· Ivan De Erick Diaz Xolo - Kukdong worker and another leader in the reform
effort at Kukdong
· Huberto Juárez Nuñez - Researcher in Economics at the Autonomous
University
of Puebla
· Catalina Gúzman Albafull - Research Assistant in Economics at the
Autonomous
University of Puebla
· Scott Nova - Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium
· Local Speakers
Tour Sponsor: Worker Rights Consortium. The WRC is a labor rights
monitoring
organization with 89 college and university affiliates. Its primary purpose
is to assist in the enforcement of the manufacturing Codes of Conduct
adopted
by affiliated colleges and universities, Codes that protect the rights of
workers in factories where university apparel is produced. The WRC works
with
labor rights experts to investigate factory conditions. Where violations
are
uncovered, the WRC works with colleges and universities, U.S.-based retail
corporations and local workers and organizations to correct the problem and
improve conditions.
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