From: Rachel Edelman (rachel_790@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Nov 29 2001 - 10:19:22 EST
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--- S Webb <sfwebb@usa.net> wrote:
> To: usas@yahoogroups.com, usas-cc@yahoogroups.com,
> wrc-usasgb@yahoogroups.com,
> wrc_election@yahoo.com
> From: S Webb <sfwebb@usa.net>
> Date: 28 Nov 2001 21:58:58 EST
> Reply-to: usas-cc@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [usas-cc] Vote!!! for USAS WRC Governing
> Board Reps
>
> 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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