From: S Webb (sfwebb@usa.net)
Date: Wed Nov 28 2001 - 21:58:58 EST
Hey USAS,
It's time to elect three people to represent USAS on the WRC board. Below
are four applications from amazing people.
Here is how the voting process works: each USAS affiliate
group should review the applications below. Then, each USAS
affiliate group should appoint two liaisons to communicate the group's
votes. Each liaison votes for three candidates, as
determined democratically by his or her USAS group.
Your group's liaisons can vote anytime between today, Wednesday, November 28,
and a week from today, Thursday, Dec 6th. In other words, please review the
applications and have your liaison vote within a week!!!
Some details on the voting process:
It is perfectly fine for a group's two liaisons to vote for the same three
candidates, or for none of the same candidates, or for some of the same
candidates. The same liaison can act as both liaisons for your group, but the
liaison must indicate so during voting.
No single liaison can vote for an applicant more than once, unless the same
liaison is acting as both liaisons for the group, in which case s/he can vote
for an applicant at most twice.
It is permissible to vote for an applicant who is in your USAS group.
Obviously, applicants cannot be a liaison.
Just to be clear: the liaison should vote the group's preference, not
necessarily his or her own preference. The group's preference should be
determined by circulating the applications over e-mail, bringing paper
copies to this week's meeting, discussing the applications in an open forum,
and whatever other democratic methods you can come up with.
The winners of the election will be the top three vote getters.
Liaisons should e-mail their group's votes to:
EMAIL: wrc_elections@yahoo.com
Your liaisons can also telephone in their votes, to Rachel Edelman at the USAS
office (202-NO-SWEAT). It is OK to leave your votes on the voice mail of the
USAS office.-- just remember to identify yourself, the group
for whom you are the liaison, and clearly name the three applicants for whom
your group is voting.
Here is a list of the four applicants, in alphabetical order. Their
applications are pasted below:
Gabe Katsh, Harvard University
Shahar Sapir, Florida State U.
Matt Teaman, Ohio State
Trina Tocco, Western Michigan University
Please look over their applications carefully, they are all
good candidates. When your USAS group reviews their
applications, please keep in mind that in addition to striving for diversity
in the areas of race, class, LGBTQ, and gender, USAS also strives for
diversity of region and school size in its representation on the WRC board.
Information on the region and size of each applicant's school is included
below for your consideration.
If you have any questions about the voting process, please don't hesitate to
contact us at wrc_elections@yahoo.com
1) What has been your past involvement with the Worker Rights Consortium?
As a member of Harvard Students Against Sweatshops (HSAS), I have worked
on our campaign to pressure Harvard to affiliate itself with the WRC. Through
direct actions and public education, HSAS has worked to increase
awareness about Harvard's role in the sweatshop industry, show the need
for independent monitoring of the factories that produce Harvard apparel,
and lobby the Harvard administration to take concrete steps to become more
accountable for the working conditions in the factories where Harvard
apparel is produced.
2) If you were on the governing board, to whom would you be accountable?
What are some means of communication and accountability that you propose?
As both a board member of the WRC and a representative from USAS, I would
see myself accountable to both organizations and their members. I feel the
role of the USAS representative is to maintain a connection between USAS
and the WRC, and in such capacity I would make representing the views of
USAS and its members to the WRC and its staff a major priority. I would
also be
accountable to the
WRC, its executive director and the rest of the leadership board, and
would expect open communication from them regarding any concerns they have
or any issues they feel need to be addressed.
3) What do you hope to accomplish in the next year as a member of the
governing board? How will you play a role in helping the WRC reach these
goals? Are there any obstacles that you think you may encounter while
trying to achieve these goals? If so, how would you handle them?
The WRC has reached a major turning point in its history. After several
years of struggling to establish itself, the WRC now has the membership
base and the research experience from Kukdong to establish itself as the
most important anti-sweatshop monitors for colleges. My major goal for the
WRC will be to increase its membership, especially to work with USAS to
help start
new WRC campaigns on campuses across the country. While the WRC has an
impressive number of schools on board, there are clearly hundreds of
colleges and universities that have never even heard of the Worker Rights
Consortium, and it is vital that the WRC work with USAS to spread to new
campuses.
At the same time, WRC campaigns can often be long and sometimes
unsuccessful. Our campaign at Harvard, for example, has taken several
years, and while we are hopeful that recent developments will encourage
our administration to finally join, we also recognize that our WRC
campaign could still drag on for much longer. Therefore, communication and
support for schools that have preexisting WRC campaigns, and solidarity
events to show support for schools that are struggling against belligerent
administrations, are crucial.
4) How would you describe the WRC¹s relationship to universities? To
corporations?
The WRC has a unique relationship to universities, given that there would
be no WRC if not for USAS. While the WRC has now become an established
institution with its own staff and board, it is important not to forget
its connection to the student anti-sweatshop movement, and the need for
the WRC to work with universities to put an end to sweatshop labor in
collegiate apparel production.
While I think cooperation with corporations can be helpful, especially
toward ensuring compliance with labor standard and preventing corporations
from simply closing factories with poor conditions rather than working to
improve them, it is also important to remember that the WRC would not be
necessary if these corporations could be trusted to run ethical
businesses. It is unrealistic to assume that corporations which
profit
tremendously from sweatshop labor will want to devote resources toward
ending that profitable system; this means that, unfortunately, the WRC
will often have to take an adversarial role. The important aspect is to
strike the right balance between working with these corporations and
lobbying against them. As the recent Kukdong victory shows, I think the
WRC, more than any other group, has shown its potential for successfully
taking on both roles simultaneously.
5) Does your school do licensing, and what is the student body size of your
school?
Harvard has approximately 6500 undergraduate and 9000 graduate students,
and licenses with several companies to produce a wide range of apparel and
other insignia products.
6) How do you interact with groups or with administrations that have very
different viewpoints? In group decisions, how do you deal with views that
conflict with your own?
In working both for Harvard Students Against Sweatshops and the Harvard
Living Wage Campaign, I have had to meet with administrators and attempt
to persuade them to work with us. While college administration, as well as
corporations, will often
avoid listening to other viewpoints, it is important to exhaust these
avenues of dialogue
before resorting to more forceful measures. In the case of Harvard, our
dialogue with the administration may yet yield WRC membership, even while
direct actions have sometimes proven necessary to bring the administration
to the bargaining table.
As far as working with different views within the student anti-sweatshop
movement, I think one of the strengths of any grassroots movement is the
diversity of opinions of its members. Interacting with individuals who
have radically different ideas than I do is one of the main reasons I
would like to become the USAS rep. to the WRC, because it has the
potential to be an incredible learning experience. Except in some extreme
cases, where I feel the need to make a principled stand, I also try to
yield to majority opinion, and this would be especially the case if I were
to be the USAS rep. to the WRC, where my main responsibility, in my
opinion, would be to represent the views of the USAS membership to the
WRC.
7) What do you see as the WRC¹s relationship to workers in producing
countries?
More than anything, the WRC should facilitate the development of
unionizing and organizing movements of the workers themselves, and should
serve as a resource for the workers in these countries in their efforts to
improve their own conditions. I think a quote that USAS often uses sums up
the way the WRC should interact with the workers themselves: "If you
have come to help me, you are wasting your time; But if you've come
because your liberation is bound up with mine, Then let us work together."
8) What skills can you contribute as a USAS WRC representative? (Also, do
you have skill in any other languages?)
I have experience working with nonprofit organizations on a variety of
issues that USAS and the WRC address, including labor rights,
globalization, and the
role of corporations in the global economy. I can also conduct
conversations in Spanish (and Hebrew, if the need arises).
9) What role do you think diversity plays when working in solidarity with
workers?
One of the goals of any organization that wishes to work on social
issues such as worker solidarity should be to ensure the diversity of its
members. This is important not only because it introduces a wider range of
ideas and opinions but because it more accurately reflects
the ideological, religious, racial, and cultural diversity among the
workers with whom we are collaborating.
10) Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Please do not hesitate to contact me at katsh@f... or (617)
493-2264 if anyone has questions. I would be more than happy to discuss
any of these issues at greater length.
Thank you for taking the time to consider me as a candidate. Whatever the
outcome, I look forward to continue to work with USAS and the WRC.
*****^^^^^^^^*****%%%%%%%*******@@@@@****
--Shahar Sapir
Florida State U.
1) What has been your past involvement with the Worker Rights Consortium?
A: I am a founding member of the United Students Against Sweatshops chapter
at Florida State University. For the past year and a half I have taken on
many positions of leadership in FSUSAS. In that time our group has been
trying to persuade our university to join the Worker’s Rights
Consortium. I am well versed in the charter of the Worker’s Rights
Consortium, and I have used this knowledge to create pamphlets and other
literature comparing the Worker’s Rights Consortium to the Fair Labor
Association in order to educate the student body here at FSU.
2) If you were on the governing board, to whom would you be accountable?
What are some means of communication and accountability that you propose?
A: First and foremost, I believe I would be accountable to both the workers
of the apparel industry and the universities. Exposing
the way workers are treated, and doing what we can to have them be treated
like human beings is the reason for even having the WRC.
Though at the same time this goes hand and hand with being
accountable to the Universities/ Students because it is
each of the member university’s apparel we essentially look at to make
sure it is being manufactured according to the standards set forth by the
code of conduct laid out within the charter.
As far as communication goes I think that being in close
contact with NGOs in the areas identified to be violating
labor laws and codes of conduct is very important. Through periodic updates,
via electronic and postal mail, contact could be maintained as well as
accountability established. Assisting the workers and facilitating their
ability to stand up for their rights is
essential. Also, communicating with the Universities and
encouraging them to take action to enforce their own codes of conduct would
make them accountable for their own merchandise.
3) What do you hope to accomplish in the next year as a member of the
governing board? How will you play a role in helping the WRC reach these
goals? Are there any obstacles that you think you may encounter while trying
to achieve these goals? If so, how would you handle them?
A: As a board member I would actively try to get more schools to join the
WRC. One of my goals would be to set up a lecture series with the workers,
or produce literature aimed at university presidents. I would like to be
able to explain and show the different universities that the well being and
interests of the workers are inextricable from the long term interests of
the universities. I don’t think this will be an easy task but if
approached correctly I believe it is possible. I could play a role in this
by actually putting together the literature. My experience in putting
together informative literature for USAS could be used to help the WRC
expand their membership. I would set up meetings or presentations with
University administration by maintaining close relations with USAS chapters
around the country.
4) How would you describe the WRC’s relationship to universities? To
corporations?
A: I see the WRC as being an essential ally of Universities. The WRC helps
universities keep their integrity as educational institutions by assisting
them in overcoming their sweatshop problem. The same goes for corporations,
though I’m not so sure their view towards the WRC is the same. I think
our view of the relationship should not be that of enemies but as of
facilitators. The WRC should make it desirable for both of these
institutions to clean up their act. At the very least we can have a positive
effect on the way that these corporations produce their university apparel.
5) Does your school do licensing, and what is the student body size of your
school?
A: Yes, my school does a lot of licensing. The student population is 27,014.
6) How do you interact with groups or with administrations that have very
different viewpoints? In group decisions, how do you deal with views that
conflict with your own?
A: I think that I interact quite well with other people
in many situations. I like to think of myself as a fairly
open-minded person. On many occasions I have had to work and
deal with people who’s ideas and ideologies are quite conflicting
with mine and had suffered no considerable conflict as a
result. The administration at my school is a perfect example.
My ideas as to where the school should be heading are quite different then
that of the administration. Despite this I have had many discussions and open
dialogues with FSU President Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte on many
occasions where our viewpoints were exchanged quite amicably.
As far as group settings go, I am a pretty good listener and like to take
other people’s opinions into consideration. I am well aware that I
don’t have all the answers and therefore value what others have to
say.
7) What do you see as the WRC’s relationship to workers in producing
countries?
A: I see that relationship as that of allies. I see the WRC
as being a voice for the workers here in the USA. It seems that the WRC picks
up where the worker’s and our governments left off. I think the WRC’s role
should be to aid the workers in unionization (assuming that that is what the
workers want of course) and help them get their message out to inform the
public. Of course this needs to be done delicately so as not to embarrass
the company giving it an incentive to “Cut and run.” I think
that bringing delegations of workers to speak to students and even
administrators can really help bring the “Problem home” and help
people better understand the issue as well as motivate them to act.
8) What skills can you contribute as a USAS WRC representative? (Also, do
you have skill in any other languages?)
A: I have experience in organizing and producing literature.
I am also very dedicated to and care about this issue very much. In addition,
I am fairly fluent in both Spanish and Hebrew.
9) What role do you think diversity plays when
working in solidarity with workers?
A: Diversity is very important, especially since most of our work is done
with both males and females of different cultural and racial backgrounds.
Having a diverse group is an essential asset to doing any kind of work, and
especially international work, which is a major component of the WRC. In
order for the WRC to be able to aid workers it must have people in it that
are of many backgrounds, this will make it easier to understand and help the
workers better.
*****^^^^^^^^*****%%%%%%%*******@@@@@****
My name is Matt Teaman. I am an activist with Columbus United Students
Against Sweatshops in Columbus, Ohio. I am applying for one of the three USAS
Representative WRC Governing Board positions that are open.
>1) What has been your past involvement with the Worker Rights
>Consortium?
When we formed in July of 2000, our group, Columbus United Students
Against Sweatshops (CUSAS), knew that National USAS supported the WRC. We
felt it our duty as individual members to study up on this organization and
several others such as FLA. I did so, and was also meeting with Ohio State's
Director of Trademark and Licensing to discuss OSU's feelings about the
various monitoring/enforcement mechanisms available. I also attended the
National USAS Conference in Eugene, where one of my major objectives was
finding out just what the WRC was. I talked personally with Marakah Mancini,
Peter Romer-Friedman and Maria Roeper and heard their takes, while attending
a
couple different workshops on the topic. Before classes started in late
September, I wrote an extensive introductory packet for new members, part of
which explained in some detail what the WRC and FLA were. We all did our
homework and came to consensus to support OSU's joining WRC in November.
Soon thereafter, I composed a letter to OSU's President Kirwan and his
staff, approved by CUSAS, that invited them to talk with us about addressing
OSU's use of sweatshops. We formed a Labor Advisory Committee (LAC) that was
very favorably composed (3 administration, 3 faculty, 6 students including 2
CUSAS spots). That February, a large group of us went to Chicago for the
Midwest USAS Conference, where I talked further with Peter and attended his
workshop on the WRC. While I did not volunteer to be one of the CUSAS reps on
the LAC, I was very active organizing support for our WRC campaign among the
student body. I and other CUSAS members gave classes formal presentations
plugging WRC and I was the MC/Mascot at our big WRC rally in April. When
Scott Nova of the WRC and Sam Brown of the FLA came to speak at Ohio State, I
attended both meetings and talked with them personally. Fortunately, in June,
the LAC officially endorsed WRC and President Kirwan soon signed on.
All in all, I have done a great deal of self-education and activism on the
WRC, and while there is still a great deal about the inner-workings I do not
know, if I am voted on to the Board, I will do all I can to learn very
quickly.
>2) If you were on the governing board, to whom would you be
>accountable? What are some means of communication and
>accountability that you propose?
While I understand that WRC must maintain an appearance of neutrality, I
believe it was set up to help improve the lives of workers, first and
foremost. I believe I am first accountable to the workers in the factories
that make apparel for the colleges and universities that belong to the WRC.
If they want to see the WRC move in a certain direction, I would feel I
should
work for that. In a related manner, as a USAS representative, I would be
secondarily accountable to all members of USAS across the nation. Since USAS
chapters are working in coalition to help workers around the world, I would
do
what I could to address their needs from the WRC.
As far as communication goes, I know that the WRC is in contact with
labor NGOs from around the world who are in constant contact with workers. I
would keep in contact with WRC's Director of Outreach to assertain what the
concerns are of the NGOs and what policy decisions WRC could make to help. As
for the USAS chapters across the nation, one goal I would take very seriously
is responding to every e-mail I get from individual USAS members in a timely
fashion and proactively making phone calls to chapter contacts, especially at
schools that are in the midst of or have yet to begin a WRC campaign.
As for accountability, it would be nice if each USAS chapter whose school
is on the WRC could assign a member to monitor WRC activities, including the
Governing Board. These members could be on a listserve or something in order
to discuss our actions, and could contact us about any problems (if we
haven't
contacted them first).
>
>3) What do you hope to accomplish in the next year as a member of
>the governing board? How will you play a role in helping the WRC
>reach these goals? Are there any obstacles that you think you may
>encounter while trying to achieve these goals? If so, how would you
>handle them?
I hope to help make the WRC as powerful and effective of a group as
possible in terms of mobilizing member school administrations to collectively
make change in the apparel industry. This requires two main efforts: getting
member schools to be active members of the WRC; and getting more member
schools. At this point, I honestly feel the former is more important. I
would like to personally contact the decision-making bodies of each and every
member school at some point during my term, both to let them know the
Governing Board cares about its constituency and to push them towards action
based on current WRC findings (again, I know we're supposed to be neutral,
but
one can always make innocent suggestions).
As for getting more member schools, I've already mentioned my goal of
contacting USAS groups that are in the middle of WRC campaigns, but I also
think keeping myself open as a contact person for the administrators at these
schools is important. I'll tell the USAS chapters, "Hey, if the
administration has any questions about the WRC, they can call or e-mail me
anytime." I feel being available is VERY important.
Of course there will be obstacles. Many school administrations thought
they would simply join the WRC and all of their problems would be solved.
Heck, even some USAS groups seem to have felt this way. There may be a great
deal of hesitancy on the part of school administrations to act on our
findings, and it will be especially difficult to try to coordinate schools'
actions. I realize I will not be allowed to be terribly pushy as an official
WRC representative, so I will inform USAS chapters about how they can best
push their schools to act collectively with other schools. CUSAS has
accomplished similar feats pretty successfully at Ohio State, so I have
experiences to share.
>4) How would you describe the WRC¹s relationship to universities?
>To corporations?
I feel very strongly on this topic. WRC's strength comes from having 90
(and counting) schools in coalition against sweatshop abuses. That was the
whole reason the No Sweat campus campaign began--we have great leverage when
universities act collectively. If we neglect the schools that have joined, we
will not only lose current members and discourage others from joining, but we
will also waste our best opportunity to make real change in the industry.
Member schools are the WRC's constituency, and the reason it exists. We
must take great care to have a consistent form of communication with each
member school. As I said, I'd set a goal to personally contact the
decision-making person(s) of each and every member school, but
I realize that working together as a board, we could easily set up a concrete
system of communication. Even if we (very hopeful estimate here) had 150
school by the end of my term, that'd still only be 10 schools per board member
to keep in contact with. We should ask them what their needs and concerns are,
while informing them of what we're doing. If the WRC shows it cares, then
schools will respond positively, and become active members themselves. They
will feel they own the group, and if you look at our finances, they do.
As for corporations, I strongly support WRC's choice to keep industry
representatives off of the Governing Board. At the same time, I feel
it is important to nurture the lines of communication that are beginning to
form. Kukdong taught us a couple of lessons. First, we don't need to have
industry reps making WRC policy for WRC to have the ear of industry. Second,
we'll need to have the ear of industry if we're going to make some real
change. As a USAS representative, I doubt I can be of as much help in this
area as other Governing Board members or staff. Still, I will push for
greater, more
consistent communication with industry, including some sort of regular
meetings with industry reps, if they'll come.
>
>5) Does your school do licensing, and what is the student body size
>of your school?
Yes, Ohio State does quite a bit of licensing, but we are not a member of
the CLC. The Ohio State University Office of Trademark and Licensing does it
all on our own. The main campus in Columbus, where I attend school, has about
48,000 students, and altogether there is an enrollment of over 55,000.
>
>6) How do you interact with groups or with administrations that have
>very different viewpoints? In group decisions, how do you deal with
>views that conflict with your own?
The strategy that I and other key CUSAS members had in approaching our
administration was to first get them at the table with us and simply talk. We
congratulated them on their interest in workers issues and let them know we
had similar goals. Basically, we talked their talk. It was very successful.
They saw us as a professional-acting group who was willing to work together
with them, and willing to do so without locking ourselves in the President's
Office (but it didn't hurt that they suspected we were willing). At LAC
meetings, we simply presented them with information-- lots of it. We were
always available to answer any questions, and made that known. That is the
same attitude I will bring to the WRC.
As far as views that conflict with my own, I listen. I listen very
carefully. If it seems that we both really want the same thing, or if there
is any common ground, I will try to work from there and see if we can meet
halfway. Group decision-making adds a different element, i.e., while I will
make it known if I dissent from the general feeling of the group and will
explain why, my duty is to make sure the will of the group is done. This is
what grass-roots democracy is all about. I have always tried to follow this
principle in CUSAS, going so far as to solicit views that oppose mine and
always stopping to see how people are responding to what I'm saying. My duty
to CUSAS is and has always been to make sure the true will of the group is
done, and I will have the same duty to the WRC Governing Board.
>
>7) What do you see as the WRC¹s relationship to workers in producing
>countries?
I've already mentioned my opinions on this in some detail. Again, I feel
both USAS and WRC are first and foremost responsible to workers. While we
cannot always officially take sides on an issue, we can do whatever is in our
power to ensure workers are getting what they need from us. We should ensure
that the NGOs we work with are informing workers in factories about their
rights under university Codes of Conduct and letting them know about the
awesome coalition of students, universities and other activists who are
willing to work in solidarity with their struggles. We should send
delegations whenever timely to factories where we can be of greatest help.
Specifically, I think we've seen in Kukdong and are starting to see at
New Era what kind of work we can do. I think WRC has done a great job on
these issues and shows promise for the future. Clearly, we can't be working
on too many different workers' struggles at once, because by focusing we can
achieve more with each individual issue. Still, as we do more and more, the
industry will start respecting the measures we and our member schools are
willing to take to respond to Code of Conduct violations, and conditions will
begin to improve. After all, while it's great to help the individual workers
at Kukdong and New Era, the real point of all this is to put sufficient
pressure on the industry as a whole to know it must treat their workers with
respect, or else!
>8) What skills can you contribute as a USAS WRC representative?
I am a fourth-year English and Women's Studies major at Ohio State. My
communication skills are very good, both written and oral. I can organize my
thoughts well, even with no time to prepare, and have learned a great deal
about rhetorical skills both through class and acitivist experience. I have
been an excellent public speaker since high school and through activism, have
had ample opportunity to hone my skills. I've always made an effort to relate
personal experiences when speaking, and have been known to move crowds to
tears or fist-raising chants. The more educated the people are, the more
power they have, and the larger the group gets, the better I speak. I can
speak the language of industry, the language of university administrators,
the
language of students, and also relate to uneducated or very young people.
I have finished my Women's Studies classes with a focus on Public Policy
and Social Activism. I have done tons of research on women's issues,
especially related to reproductive rights and labor issues. Of course, there
are much more educated, more experienced people on the Board, but I feel my
strength in this area is mainly the WAY in which I think. I am constantly
analyzing issues from a women's rights, GLBT rights, and generally a
"minority" rights perspective.
As has been alluded to, I have a great deal of community
organizing/activist experience. Before CUSAS, which I've worked with since
its formation in July 2000, I served as Co-Chair of OSU's Bisexual, Gay and
Lesbian Alliance before joining student stike support for campus workers in
April-May 2000. Through this, I got a summer internship with the Union of
Needletrade, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), the union who first
encouraged students to start USAS and along with USWA provides USAS's best
organized labor support. Through this internship, I learned a great deal
about how organized labor works, and perhaps more importantly, how the
apparel
industry works. I've visited garment factories all over, from New York's
garment district to rural Ohio to Leon, Mexico.
The latter visit was made this summer during a six-week study abroad
session in Mexico studying NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Through this, I learned face-to-face from experts in Mexico about the pros
and
cons of NAFTA, but mostly about the harm that unbridled free trade can do to
the environment and communities. I worked with three other students on a
30-page research paper about maquiladoras in Mexico. Part of the research for
this report included visiting a couple of homes in a very poor rural Mexican
town that had been turned into small, makeshift sweatshops. They were
sub-subcontracting with companies in Mexico City. I learned a little bit of
Spanish in Mexico, but cannot speak well. I plan to study very extensively
this summer and should be near fluent by the end of August. Mexico not only
taught me first-hand what the global economy means for workers, but what it's
like to be immersed in a different culture.
>9) What role do you think diversity plays when
>working in solidarity with workers?
Obviously, it's very important when talking with workers that they can
relate to you. It is of paramount importance that you speak their first
language, and realistically, it is important that at least some of you look
like them. It creates a very difficult dynamic when Asian, Black or Latino/a
workers are confronted by a group of white, middle-class students asking,
"How
can we help you?" WRC has paid close attention to diversity issues both in
the Governing Board and its staff, and I congratulate it for that. We are
serving a diverse global workforce, and we must accordingly be diverse. I am
a straight white male whose Spanish is crappy, and if it comes down to a
decision between me and a qualified woman and/or person of color and/or
someone who speaks another language fluently, I say choose them. It will be
better for the WRC and help improve relationships with workers if they see
people who look and talk like them.
Of course, if 95% of the students doing USAS support for WRC issues are
white middle-class kids, that doesn't help either. We've all heard this a
million times, so I won't talk this into the ground. It's no secret that USAS
has this "diversity" problem, but I find it more constructive to think of it
as an issue of safe space. USAS must stop using words like "recruitment" and
"diversity" becuase it makes people of color feel like they're being added
just for that: color. White domination of USAS is a symptom, not the problem.
The Principles of Unity have some good strong language to follow, and groups
should make sure their members keep them in mind. We must create space in our
groups for dialogue on these issues without pushing it and making people of
color uncomfortable. We must work in coalition with groups fighting racism
and ethnocentricity, and groups that are working to improve the lives of
people of color. This is the best kind of "recruting" you can do.
As for my potential membership on the WRC Board, I will always keep in my
mind and others' minds that the global apparel workforce is mostly women, and
very few of them are white. WRC should try to reflect this not only in its
makeup but in its actions.
>10) Is there anything else that you would like to add?
This was an extremely verbose application, and I apologize for that, but
I really feel this is all important information about me and my opinions.
You'll have to trust me: I don't go on like this in person.
If I am so lucky as to be elected as a WRC Governing Board member, I will
be deeply honored and work my butt off to make WRC as effective as it can be.
I feel this is a critical organization and a critical time in history, and I
will treat this position with the deep seriousness it deserves.
*****^^^^^^^^*****%%%%%%%*******@@@@@****
Trina Tocco
Western Michigan University
Environmental studies and globalization and labor studies major (well kinda)
I have at least 1.5 years left of school
I am actually traveling around the world on a ship right now through the
Semester at Sea program. I will return to the states on December 10th. The
only way to reach me until then is through email.
1. What has been your past involvement with the WRC?
Well I have been around USAS and the WRC since October of 1999. I was the
student staff person for the New Era Cap strike during this past summer
where I worked continuously with the WRC to keep lines of communication
flowing between CWA, the WRC, and USAS. Before that I was the Midwest
regional organizer of USAS. I spent time talking to students
at a number of campuses mainly in the Midwest where much of the discussion
focused on the WRC. I have lots of extremely large cell phone bills to prove
just how much time I spent talking to people at often very random times of the
night about how to win the WRC campaign and/or how to sustain good
administration
relations through it all (I'm not to sure if any of my advice worked
though.) I faintly remember participating in the founding conference when
the WRC consisted of one staff person in a small office in a church in New
York City. On a more local level I spent lots of time meeting with my
administrations about our participation in the WRC.
2. If you were on the governing board, to whom would you be accountable?
What are some means of communication and accountability that you propose?
While I would be accountable to all of the constituencies, I would probably
lean more on the side of USAS and the workers even though it is important to
at least listen to what the administrations have to say. I have been out of
the loop for the most part for the last 3 months but when I left the states
there were a number of issues between USAS and the WRC. Communication was
somewhat lacking between the 2 groups and hopefully there are mechanisms in
place to fill those gaps. I would definitely continue those 2 way
communication lines and also make the random phone calls. Since I love to
talk, I think my greatest strength in the area of communication would be to
talk to as many USASers as I possibly could on campuses. Each campus group
is faced with a different administration and I think its important to keep
the campus groups connected to each other for this reason. Accountability
has got to be one of my most favorite words. There are a number of ways to
achieve it but I personally prefer straight up frank evaluations. I think
in order to be accountable; one must talk to many other students to get
their feedback and input.
3. What do you hope to accomplish in the next year as a member of the
governing board? How will you play a role in helping the WRC reach these
goals? Are there any obstacles that you think you may encounter while
trying to achieve these goals? If so, how would you handle them?
(1) I would like to be able to get a hold of students
from every campus that is a WRC member. As far as I
know there are a number of schools on the WRC
that no longer have solid student contacts.
(2) I would also like to remind the WRC that while
there are a number of large schools who will bring it the
funding, there are just as many small schools who also want
to contribute and its important to find a harmony among
the different types of member
schools.
(1) Well since I love to make random phone calls and have lots of experience
hunting down students, I could spend lots of time searching for 'lost'
contacts. It also helps that I have access to long distance and internet
free of charge. (2) The next goal of giving smaller licensing and
non-licensing schools more of a voice is a little tough. I think some
delicate conversations need to happen. I think it is in the interest of the
WRC to pay more attention to smaller schools in order to find a common
ground with a large number of WRC member schools. While there needs to be a
balance between the wants and stipulations of the large schools, I think it
is the smaller schools that have shown more support to the WRC and might
possibly be willing to go a little further than the larger schools have.
(This statement is of course purely my opinion and since my opinion isn't
always the best one, take the statement with a grain of salt.) In the case
of New Era, I think it might have been possible to gather up more support
from a number of smaller schools than from a couple big schools. Hopefully
if I am elected, I will try to keep this issue on the table and begin to
advocate for a more varied approach to complement the varied types of
administrations that accompany the WRC member schools.
(1) The obstacles with finding 'lost' contacts would be unanswered messages,
wrong email addresses, outdated databases, people who don't read the
listserves and graduated students. For some crazy reason I like these
obstacles and I have become somewhat efficient in overcoming them. (2) The
second goal isn't as cut and dry as the first. The main obstacle will be
confrontation. There are so many people who are passionate about the work
that the WRC does that it becomes increasingly difficult to try new ways
when one is connected to a certain way.
(1) Dealing with 'lost' contacts has become a bit of a game to me
since I have spent so much time in the past doing it. Generally
if you keep trying then success is bound to happen. I have found
this to be the case with finding 'lost' contacts. Sometimes I
have been known to stalk people but it's all in the way people
perceived it! (2) The more delicate goal needs to be handled in
a more delicate fashion. I suppose I would continue to
keep it on the table and continue to talk to different schools as a way to
monitor if they feel change is taking place.
4. How would you describe the WRCs relationship to universities? To
corporations?
The WRCs relationship to universities is one that is often comical yet
extremely frustrating. The WRC deals with the conscience of the
universities (or their lack of in some cases). Universities want to uphold
their image but at the same time have licensees to answer to. I think that
since money is involved there is a strained relationship but I'm seeing
things get better. Administrators seem to be coming around and accept that
the WRC is a success and will continue to be a success.
The relationship with corporations seems to be one of misunderstandings
laced with mistrust. Last month I was led around a Nike factory in Vietnam
by a number of corporate responsibility people. We were given a
presentation in the beginning where the man in charge of all the Nike
production in Vietnam stated that there were a bunch of students in the US
who were funded by unions and protectionists. I think I have heard this
response to USAS at least 100 hundred times but I still sat there shocked at
how this statement just rolled off the tongue of this Nike representative.
This exemplified the overarching view that corporations have over both
students and the WRC. As far as I know the WRC is planning to have a series
of round table discussion with a number of key corporations within the
university apparel arena. I think it is important to give the corporations
this opportunity but I think it is unrealistic to think that the WRC will
ever have a "healthy" relationship with the corporations it will often be
condemning.
5. Does your school do licensing, and what is the student body size of your
school?
Western Michigan University receives about $100,000 in royalties a year from
licensing. The student body has about 27,000 all together.
6. How do you interact with groups or with administrations that have very
different viewpoints? In group decisions, how do you deal with views that
conflict with your own?
Listening is often what I find myself doing in the presence
of others who don't share my viewpoints. I have come to
realize that I'm probably not going to change the way
any group or administration thinks about a certain
subject but it is my duty to make both sides known.
Obviously confrontation will occur but it must be
stated that there are 2 sides and that compromise
must take place.
There is a cookie cutter answer to this question but I truthfully haven't
figured out how to deal correctly with opposing viewpoints. I could throw
out lots of buzzwords but in reality when I am confronted with opposing
viewpoints from administrations, I find it very difficult to understand
where their motivations lie. In group decisions, compromise and listening
again are the best ways to go but again that isn't always easy to do. The
most important thing is to make sure that all viewpoints are respected and
heard no matter what.
7. What do you see as the WRCs relationship to workers in producing
countries?
I was able to actually see the potential for this relationship to develop
even further in my travels around the world this semester. I had the
opportunity to meet with a number of NGOs in India concerning labor issues.
It is the duty of the WRC to maintain and begin new relationships
internationally. It is the responsibility of the WRC to represent the
workers in the best way possible. Through this relationship, the WRC can
bring the issues of workers to the forefront of their work back in the
states.
There are a number of innovative organizations in many of the producing
countries and I think it is important for the WRC to focus on developing
these relationships. Through these relationships, hopefully, those back in
the states will have a better understanding of the needs and wants of
workers. Now that the WRC has strong backing from a number of colleges and
universities, I think it makes sense to prioritize this sort of relationship
building before further investigations take place. Once workers become
aware of the capabilities of the WRC, it is my prediction that they will use
the WRC to better their conditions, which is the goal of the WRC.
8. What skills can you contribute as a USAS WRC representative? (Also, do
you have skill in any other languages?)
I am a talker so I am more than willing to spend time on
conference calls. I have talked to a number of USASers and
I like to think that people feel comfortable talking to me
about whatever issue is confronting them. I'm not sure if
this is a skill but I have been around for a long time in
USAS terms so I have lots of information that is stuck in
my head just waiting to be pulled out. And all those kickass
Michiganders out there always have my back when I get in way
over my head.
I have minimal experience with the Spanish language.
9. What role do you think diversity plays when working in solidarity with
workers?
Diversity has the capacity to create a situation where more views are
represented. While the short-term effect of this may be conflict,
it seems that in the long run it is always better to have many different views
coming
together. For this reason, I think diversity is imperative to working in
solidarity with workers both abroad and domestically. As a white female, I
can only try to imagine how a woman of color must feel working for just
enough to barely feed her children. I am coming from a place of privilege
and need to be reminded of that. Diversity is one of the best ways to keep me
in check. My experience abroad has alerted me to the all too real
problems of ethnocentric Westerners coming into a developing country and
trying to solve its problem.
10. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I'm a fun girl so pick me!
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