From: Benjamin McKean (ben@usasnet.org)
Date: Sat Oct 19 2002 - 18:30:35 EDT
Hey folks,
Here is the latest and greatest from the WRC. As you know, USAS ran an
extremely succesful campaign to cut university contracts with New Era, and
it paid off: the company was forced to bargain collectively with the
workers, and now they're back on the job. This WRC report is an update on
where things stand.
thanks very much,
ben
------------------------------------
Benjamin McKean | National Organizer
United Students Against Sweatshops
202.NO.SWEAT // ben@usasnet.org
------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
------------------------------------------------------
To: Primary Contacts/ WRC Affiliate Colleges and Universities
From: Scott Nova and Ashwini Sukthankar
Re: Report on New Era Cap Company
Date: October 18, 2002
Attached, please find the WRC's new Report on our assessment of code of
conduct compliance at New Era Cap Company's Derby, NY manufacturing
facility. Please review the Report at your convenience and also please
forward it to other interested parties at your institution. The Report will
not be a public document until Monday of next week, when it will be released
to the press and posted on the WRC website, so please do not share it with
campus media or other media prior to Monday.
A few notes:
As you know, the WRC's assessment of New Era was initiated in response to a
worker complaint received last year.
After extensive investigation, the WRC issued a report in August of 2001,
stating preliminary findings. The attached, our second Report on New Era, is
based on further interviews with New Era workers, union officials and
managers conducted last month, on a health and safety review of the plant,
and on documentary evidence gathered since August 2001, including a large
document submission from New Era management. The Report does three things:
1) Evaluates, in light of subsequently gathered evidence, the WRC's
preliminary findings of August 2001; 2) Assesses the current situation at
New Era, including improvements made since the Preliminary Report was
issued; 3) Makes several recommendations for additional improvements.
On the whole, this is a strongly positive Report. The WRC Assessment Team
found that, in the areas analyzed (freedom of association and health and
safety), New Era has achieved a reasonable, and in some ways commendable,
level of compliance with college and university codes of conduct. (This
assumes both the maintenance of current policy and practice and the
implementation of a limited number of additional remedial steps to which New
Era management has agreed.) In addition, in terms of the monitoring process
itself, New Era has, since March of 2002, demonstrated a clear willingness
to work with the WRC and to do so in a spirit of openness and cooperation.
Of particular note was New Era's willingness to work closely with us to
reach agreement on the additional improvements that the Assessment Team
concluded were necessary at the plant. New Era's decision to work with the
WRC was made at the urging of a number of WRC affiliate colleges and
universities; we are very appreciative of the schools' effective assistance
in this regard.
New Era management, the leaders of the Derby union (Communications Workers
of America Local 14177), and the New Era workforce have together created
significant positive change at New Era. All are to be commended.
We hope you find the Report useful. Please contact Scott Nova if you have
any thoughts or questions. He will be in El Salvador tomorrow through
Wednesday, but can be reached at the following cell phone number: 011-(503)
893-7439. After that date, you can reach him at the WRC office (phone
below). Please also feel free to call him on his US cell phone: (202)
210-7835. If you have any difficulty accessing the document, which is in pdf
format, please contact Erin McGrath at the WRC office:
mcgrath@workersrights.org.
Scott Nova
Ashwini Sukthankar
Worker Rights Consortium
5 Thomas Circle
Washington DC 20005
voice 202.387.4884
fax 202.387.3292
www.workersrights.org
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