Thursday, September 11, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
SWR General Interest Meeting!!
Thursday, September 4
at 6pm
Parents Fountain, SUNY Albany
(the fountain near the Science library & the Campus Cntr. food court)
On the Agenda:
- Update on the Stop Killer Coke campaign
- Fair Trade Alliance
- Sweatfree Agenda
- Upcoming Speakers
For more info: sweatfreeua@gmail.com
Sunday, August 24, 2008
SWR Back in Action!!
FIRST MEETING: This Thursday, Aug. 28 6pm, Corner Cafe, Campus Cntr!!On the agenda: 1.) Updates on Stop Killer Coke Campaign2.) Fair Trade campaign3.) General Interest Meeting4.) Potential Speakers
MOVIE SHOWING: Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price, Saturday, Aug. 30 4pm, "Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel... and shop." (email sweatfreeua@gmail.com for more info!)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Metroland: SUNY Shrugs Off Allegations of Abuse
They failed.
On Friday, John Murphy, the board president of University Auxiliary Services, the nonprofit corporation that handles food services for SUNY, announced that UAS would sign another "10-year limited exclusivity contract with the Coca-Cola Company," said UAlbany's Students for Workers' Rights.
Letter Delivered to Provost-In-Charge, Susan Herbst
Dear Provost-In-Charge Susan Herbst and to Whom Else it May Concern:
Today is International Workers’ Day, and on this day to celebrate workers’ rights achievements we’re asking you to celebrate it with us and do the right thing.
Our UAlbany contract with the disgraced Coca Cola corporation tarnishes our reputation and our image. Coke has been widely condemned by many organizations and unions- a few being the US Postal Workers, the United States Steelworkers’ Union, the Teamsters Union, the national United University Professors, the Professional Staff Congress, and the International Labor Rights Fund.
In 2006, Comptroller of the City of New York, William C. Thompson,Jr., filed a shareholder resolution calling for an investigation into alleged violence against union officials and employees at Coca-Cola’s Colombian bottling affiliate, sponsored by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), Teachers’ Retirement System for the City of New York (TRS), New York City Police Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System (BERS).
“The New York City Pension Funds are concerned about the allegations of alleged human rights abuses at Coca-Cola’s Colombian affiliate,” Thompson said in his press release. “By failing to address this issue, Coca-Cola has fostered a negative image of itself and is now the subject of a boycott campaign, which poses a financial risk for its investors.”
The New York State United Teacher’s (NYSUT) passed a resolution urging its statewide organization to not support Coke. “Concerned about claims that Coca-Cola Co. is complicit in human rights abuses in Colombia, (NYSUT) approved a resolution calling on NYSUT and its affiliates to refrain from serving or selling Coca-Cola products at its offices or union events until allegations have been investigated,” states NYSUT’s website.
Right next door at an Albany County Guilderland public school, a Coke machine was removed thanks to the belief in ethical and humane working conditions by the principal of the school and some of its teachers.
Students with SWR have already given you a presentation on Coca Cola’s human rights and labor abuses and serious environmental problems. We are now asking you to listen to the over 1,000 other students who’ve signed our petition – not to mention student and faculty support – who are asking you to help restore UAlbany’s image and reputation by clearing our complicity and association with such a disreputable corporation.
More than 1,000 students are asking:
For the University at Albany to cut the contract with Coca Cola immediately.
We also want:
Adoption of enclosed campus wide Code of Conduct for University at Albany, modeled after the Code of Conduct/ Statement of Principles for Worker Rights the Taskforce on Sweatshop Labor developed in 2000.
Adoption of the enclosed Code of Conduct to be used in any university bids to define what a “Responsible” bidder means. Currently the term “Responsible” is left vaguely unarticulated and is left up to business-focused administrators to determine.
Non-Exclusive Contract: A commitment in writing to all appropriate parties including University Auxiliary Services, Institutional Services, Students for Workers’ Rights and Student Senate to have a non-exclusive beverage contract to benefit and put students first, not business.
The creation of a new taskforce with students, faculty and community members to review contracts, or corporations manufacturing or providing goods and services for UAlbany consumption.
The mission of this Taskforce would be similar to the Taskforce on Sweatshop Labor, which includes, “The University at Albany is committed to ensuring that apparel sold on our campus is produced with full consideration of the rights and work conditions of the workers who produce these goods. The University at Albany stands firm in its opposition to sweatshop labor.”
Instead of having such a narrow definition of sweatshop labor as pertaining only to apparel products, we want the creation of a Taskforce to be engaged in ensuring that contracts, products and services for UAlbany consumption is produced with full consideration of the rights and work conditions of the workers who produce those goods. Students for Workers’ Rights must be part of this new taskforce and the taskforce must be open to student & faculty participation and decision making.
An official University at Albany press statement cc’d to Students for Workers’ Rights, and Coca Cola national headquarters publicly condemning Coca Cola’s atrocious labor, environmental and human rights abuses and tell them they must ship up; form a global human rights’ agreement and follow it like they are being asked. They should for now follow the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights or face a domino of contract-cuts with other universities.
UNDHC states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association… to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment…. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile…”
Coke is guilty of complicity in union decimation by means of intimidation, blackmail, torture, kidnapping, and 9 counts of murder of union organizers in Colombia. This is the charge by International Labor Rights Fund, of the Steelworkers’ Union, and many other organizations.
Everything we ask is grounded in the mission and principles founding the Taskforce on Sweatshop Labor and is in step with its vision. We hope that you too understand the vision of President Hitchcock and our former President Hall was to make our university more ethical and respected. This is building on efforts that they began.
We look forward to talking with you in person and talking this over.
Please do the right thing this MayDay, on International Workers’ Day and respect workers’ rights!
Sincerely,
Press Release: Students Demand UAlbany Sever Contract with Coke!
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY
On Tuesday May 1, 2007 Students for Worker’s Rights held a press conference demanding the University sever their contract with the Coca-Cola Company after announcing that over 1,200 students supported a contract severance. They cited human rights violations, anti-union practices and environmentally unsound practices as reasons for the cessation of the contract. UAlbany’s contract with Coca-Cola formally ends in 2008.
“It is hypocritical for our University to be espousing ideals of liberty, equality and social justice while doing business with corporations that are guilty of unfair and unethical labor practices,” said Amanda Hickey, a member of Students for Workers’ Rights. “In light of the human rights violations being committed in Colombia, it is imperative that we act quickly to hold The Coca-Cola Company accountable for their unethical practices abroad.”
Since 1989, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola plants in Colombia have been murdered by paramilitaries. In El Salvador, child labor is used to harvest sugar and in the process children have suffered from smoke inhalation, burns and cuts from machetes, with no access to adequate healthcare. In India, courts have ruled that Coca Cola cease its practices of using water from depleted aquifers and selling soft drinks with high pesticide levels.
“Our UAlbany contract with the disgraced Coca-Cola Company tarnishes our reputation and our image,” said Sally Kim, member of Students for Workers’ Rights. “Coke has been widely condemned by many organizations and unions- a few being the United States Steelworkers’ Union, the Teamsters Union, the United University Professors and the International Labor Rights Fund. Since today is International Workers’ Day, we’re asking UAlbany to celebrate it with us and do the right thing by cutting the Coke contract.”
Metroland: The Cola Wars 03/10/07
The event was sponsored by University Auxiliary Services, which has the contract with Coca-Cola and handles various other UAlbany student services. UAS executive director Julia Filippone said that they want to present a variety of viewpoints in keeping with the university's goal of being a "marketplace of ideas," and that is why Rogers was brought in.
"We encourage students to be responsible about their information," she said.
Rogers said that the campaign has gotten Coke products removed from 34 schools—most in the United States, but some in England, Ireland, Canada, and Italy, including some large universities like New York University and Rutgers.
The Killer Coke press conference and panel discussion Thursday drew a crowd of about 35. Hayes said that a lot of students aren't even aware of the fact that UAlbany has an exclusive contract with Coke, let alone that the company has a poor human-rights record. "I think a lot of it is that people haven't heard what's going on," Hayes said, "because Coca-Cola does a really good job at fighting that getting out and puts so much money into public relations."
Ray Rogers agreed. "You have to understand that Coca-Cola is a company that spends billions of dollars a year—about 3 billion dollars a year, actually—in advertising to create an image or a reality that has nothing to do with the ugly reality that is the company."
Media Advisory: March 1, 2007
Students and representatives from Students for Workers’ Rights, Campus Greens, Students for a Democratic Society, 9/11 Truth, and the Graduate Student Organization will join representatives from the Albany/Capital District Chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), the Industrial Workers’ of the World (IWW) and the Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU/CWA 1104) to demand that University at Albany sever their contract with The Coca-Cola Company.
Currently UAlbany has an exclusive contract with The Coca-Cola Company which expires in 2008. In light of the human rights’ abuses and environmental abuses committed by Coca-Cola in countries including Colombia, El Salvador and India UAlbany students will announce a deadline for the University to sever their contract with The Coca-Cola Company.
Date: Thursday, March 1, 2007 Time: 4pm
Albany Student Press: UAlbany to Vote on New Beverage Contract
Heather Senison
Issue date: 5/5/08
Section: News
The University at Albany Auxiliary Services will be announcing their decision this week on which company to sign the next beverage contract with. The UAS board voted on the decision in an executive session in their final meeting last Friday in the Standish Room of the Science Library. The board has 15 members; six are UAlbany students, the rest faculty and staff.
UAlbany Announces Anti-Sweatshop Policy
http://www.albany.edu/purchasing/santiago_memo.shtml
TO: The University at Albany Community
FROM: Carlos E. Santiago, Officer in Charge and Provost
DATE: February 10, 2004
SUBJECT: New University Anti-Sweatshop Policy
It gives me great satisfaction to report that the University at Albany has adopted a new policy aimed at ensuring that goods bearing University insignia, and certain other goods purchased by the University itself, are not produced under sweatshop conditions.
The new policy is an outgrowth of the work done by the Task Force on Sweatshop Labor that President Hitchcock established in April 2000 and reflects, in part, changes in state law that enable the University to align its purchasing practices with its commitment to social justice.
The new policy affects the University’s purchase of textiles, apparel and sports equipment in particular, and incorporates in the decision-making process two key features: the Statement of Principles for Worker Rights that was developed by the Task Force on Sweatshop Labor and the requirement that the purchase of any emblematic textiles, apparel or sports equipment must be from companies licensed by the Collegiate Licensing Company.
UAlbany Statement of Principles for Worker Rights
Statement of Principles for Worker Rights
Code of Conduct for Goods and Services
The University at Albany (“University”) is committed to the principle of humane working conditions for workers all over the world who are involved in the manufacture of goods, or services for the University community. The University recognizes that freedom of association and collective bargaining, living wages and benefits, involuntary labor, child labor, health and safety, discrimination and the rights of women are legitimate concerns for the workers producing these goods or services. In adopting this Statement of Principles for Worker Rights (hereafter “Statement of Principles”), the University also prioritizes the right of self-determination by workers and the collective bargaining process. In prioritizing the right to organize as the keystone of workers’ rights we recognize that there are countries where established unions may not represent the interests workers and in these instances this Statement of Principles may be a tool to help workers of better enforce their rights. We recognize that in many workplaces workers are intimidated, repressed and even murdered in order to decimate unions or scare workers out of a union drive.
The University expects that companies contracting with our university to provide goods and services or directly manufacturing or providing goods and services for our university including suppliers, licensees, and subcontractors (collectively “manufacturers/ contractors”) be held to the highest standard of compliance in the production and distribution of such goods.
Therefore, subject to any collectively negotiated agreements, where it can be documented that workers have had full, open and democratic representation and have endorsed and ratified the agreements, manufacturers/contractors will be expected to adopt policies and implement practices consistent with this Statement of Principles. Furthermore, the University acknowledges that this Statement of Principles is dynamic. As it changes, manufacturers/ contractors will be expected to adjust their labor practices to reflect the purposes and intent of these principles.
1. Freedom of Association
Manufacturers/contractors should at all times recognize and respect the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining. No worker should be subject to harassment, intimidation or retaliation in efforts to freely associate or bargain collectively.
2. Labor
The University recognizes that wages and benefits are essential for workers to meet their basic needs. Wages and benefits should ensure that workers can meet basic needs which at a minimum include food, housing, and education. The wage and benefit package must be consistent with the laws of the country of manufacture and may also include supports that address cultural and social needs of workers.
No worker should be required to work more than the regular hours and overtime allowed by the laws of the country in which the goods are manufactured. Subject to the laws of the country of manufacture or the terms of any agreement negotiated by the worker or workers, every worker should be granted 1 day off in each 7 day period and all overtime work performed should be voluntary. Similarly, any limitations on the hours of overtime a worker may work and the wages paid for such work should be determined by the laws of the country of manufacture or the terms of any agreement negotiated by the worker or workers.
Finally, the use of forced labor from prisons, indentured, or bonded labor is considered contrary to this Statement of Principles.
3. Child Labor
Subject to the applicable laws of the country of manufacture or the terms of any agreement negotiated by the workers, no person under the age of 15 should be permitted to work in the production of goods for the university’s consumption as well as the University’s Marks (as laid out in the Taskforce on Sweatshop Labors Principles of Unity). Manufacturers/ contra-ctors should, in consultation with government, human rights, and non-governmental organizations, take reasonable steps to minimize the impact that working has on the educational opportunities for children.
4. Harassment and Abuse
Manufacturers/contractors should treat each worker with dignity and respect. Manufacturers/ contractors should prohibit any involuntary use of contraceptives or pregnancy testing. Workers should not be subject to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse, including corporal punishment, death threats or blackmail. Manufacturers/contractors should actively, publicly remediate alleged problems of harassment and abuse in its chain of production and distribution/service.
5. Discrimination
No worker should be subject to discrimination in hiring, salary, benefits, advancement, discipline, promotion, termination, retirement or other terms and conditions of employment on the basis of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation or marital status.
6. Women’s Rights
Women workers should not be discriminated against on the basis of sex in the payment of wages or benefits or other terms and conditions of employment, where they perform work of similar skill, effort and responsibility for the same manufacturer under similar working conditions as men.
Women requesting maternity leave should not be discouraged from doing so. Subject to the laws of the country of manufacture or the terms of any agreement negotiated by the workers, the social or cultural practices of the region or the medical needs of the mother and child should be considered in determining the length of such leave; women taking maternity leave should not face dismissal or threat of dismissal, loss of seniority or deduction of wages, and should not be denied the opportunity to return from approved leave to the same or similar position at the same wages and benefits.
7. Health and Safety
Manufacturers/contractors should provide workers a safe and healthy working environment in compliance with all applicable local and national health and safety laws and any such additional health and safety standards as may be set forth in the terms of any agreement negotiated by the workers.
Manufacturers/contractors should provide appropriate health and safety equipment and accommodations for all workers, including pregnant women. Such equipment and accommodations should ensure a safe working environment for all workers and health of pregnant women. Ensuring the health of pregnant workers includes, but is not limited to, the provision of safety equipment and the implementation of practices that will protect against contamination from toxic or hazardous substances to which pregnant workers may be exposed. Such practices may include, but not be limited to the temporary rotation of pregnant workers from work that involves the use of toxic or hazardous chemicals.
8. Compliance and Monitoring
To ensure that appropriate labor practices as outlined in this Statement of Principles are respected by the companies contracted with the university to provide goods and services or that manufactures or provides University products or services, manufacturers/contractors will be expected to implement compliance programs that include, among other things, internal and independent external monitoring efforts, and which demonstrate manufacturers/ con-tractors’ continuing commitment (and that of their subcontractors, licensees and suppliers) to promote consumer, labor and human rights. Such programs should include, but not be limited to:
A. the good faith adoption of workplace standards consistent with this Statement of Principles;
B. the formal conveyance of workplace standards (in applicable local language) to all their facilities down the chain of production including subcontractors, and communication of the manufacturers/contractor’s commitment to comply with the workplace standards to their senior officers, managers and workers;
C. the implementation of a system of both internal and external monitoring to ensure conformance with workplace standards. Such a system should include, but not be limited to:
• the receipt of written certifications by the University and its Taskforce on Contracts and Services (yet to be formed, and until it is formed, receipt to the existing Taskforce on Sweatshop Labor) , on a regular basis, from their facilities that the workplace standards are being met, and that workers have been informed about the standards;
• an agreement that their facilities will submit to periodic inspections and audits, including those conducted by accredited external monitors, for compliance with the workplace standards;
• the assurance that all their facilities inform their workers about the workplace standards orally and through the posting of standards in a prominent place (in the local languages spoken by employees and managers), and that manufacturers/contractors undertake other efforts to educate workers about the standards on a regular basis;
• the establishment of programs to train their internal monitors about the workplace standards and applicable local and international law, as well as about effective monitoring practices, so as to enable their monitors to assess compliance with the standards;
• the conducting of periodic announced and unannounced visits by independent monitors and or human rights/ labor/ environmental NGO’s/civil society or governmental representatives to an appropriate sample of their facilities to assess compliance with the workplace standards as stipulated in this Statement of Principles, including, but not limited to, conducting periodic audits of production records and practices and of wage, hour, payroll and other worker records and practices of their facilities;
• the disclosure of company names, owners, and/or officers, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, nature of business association, including the steps performed in the manufacturing process, of all manufacturing facilities;
• the establishment of secure communications channels, in a manner appropriate to the culture and circumstances, to enable workers to report noncompliance with the workplace standards, with security that they will not be fired, punished or subjected to discrimination, intimidated, threatened or made to suffer any form of repression for doing so;
D. the prompt remediation of instances of noncompliance with the workplace standards as they are discovered and the immediate implementation of reasonable efforts to ensure that such instances do not recur.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
UUP Resolution Condeming Coke
COMMITTEE RESOLUTION FORM
Committee Name: Solidarity Committee
Meeting Date: April 20, 2007
PROPOSAL REGARDING THE COCA-COLA COMPANY
WHEREAS more than 3,000 trade unionists have been assassinated in Colombia since 1990; and
WHEREAS the Coca-Cola Company and its Colombian bottlers are being sued in the United States under the Alien Claims Tort Act for having "contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that used extreme violence and murdered, tortured, and unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders.";
WHEREAS a fact-finding delegation of labor, educator and student representatives led by New York City Council member Hiram Monserrate and including members of AFT, AFSCME/CSEA and CWA concluded, based on a 10-day trip to Colombia in January of 2004, that Coca-Cola is complicit in human rights abuses in Colombia" and that its "complicity is deepened by its repeated pattern of bringing criminal charges against union activists who have spoken out about the company's collusion with the paramilitaries.";
WHEREAS various courts, government agencies and independent studies have confirmed community concerns in India that the Coca-Cola Company is responsible for polluting the groundwater and soil, distributing toxic waste as fertilizer, causing severe water shortages and selling drinks with high levels of pesticides in India;
WHEREAS the Coca-Cola Company uses sugar harvested by children in El Salvador who, in the process of harvesting, suffer from smoke inhalation, burns, and cuts from machetes yet are not provided with health care;
WHEREAS union activists in Colombia and throughout the world are calling on their union brothers and sisters to boycott Coca-Cola,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the UUP Delegate Assembly recommends to the statewide UUP Executive Board that UUP not serve Coca-Cola products at its events, meetings, conferences, and delegate assemblies, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the UUP Delegate Assembly recommends to the statewide UUP Executive Board that it urge UUP chapters not to serve Coca-Cola products at their events, meetings, and conferences, AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the UUP Delegate Assembly recommends to the statewide UUP Executive Board that it urge UUP chapters to press for the termination of contracts with Coca-Cola on their campuses.
Press Release: SUNY Albany Fails Test on Human Rights!
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release: Tuesday, June 24, 2008
For more information: sweatfreeua@gmail.com
THE SUNY-WIDE CAMPAIGN TO HOLD COCA-COLA ACCOUNTABLE: SUNY STONY BROOK PASSES THE TEST ON HUMAN RIGHTS; SUNY ALBANY FAILS!
As SUNY Stony Brook announced last week that it would NOT sign another contract with the Coca-Cola Company, students, faculty, and community members question UAlbany’s recent decision to re-contract with Coca-Cola. “UAlbany had the same information as Stony Brook in front of them about Coca-Cola’s abuses, along with a petition signed by over 1,200 students. For them to ignore the petition, the United University Professions (UUP) resolution, the GSO resolution and all the documentation of Coke’s abuses raises serious questions about the democratic nature of UAlbany’s decision” stated Jackie Hayes, member of Students for Workers’ Rights.
The Social Justice Alliance (SJA) at SUNY Stony Brook led the Stop Killer Coke campaign on campus, bringing Coca-Cola’s international abuses to light and informing Stony Brook’s decision to kick Coke off campus. In a statement released by the Social Justice Alliance, Anita Halasz noted, “the Social Justice Alliance (SJA) started the Coca-Cola Campaign on Stony Brook Campus in Fall of 2005, where they began educating students on the corporation's human rights abuses with SINALTRAINAL, a union in Colombia.” SJA actively sought campus wide support, sent emails, organized call-ins, and hosted discussions with important speakers on campus. The Beverage Evaluation Committee at SUNY Stony Brook took student and faculty concerns seriously, ultimately deciding not to re-contract with Coca-Cola.
Kurt Amelang, a member of Students for Workers’ Rights stated, “SUNY Stony Brook’s initiative on the Coca-Cola issue demonstrates their commitment to human rights. SUNY Albany, on the other hand, has failed workers in Colombia, farmers in India, and the students, faculty and community members who want human rights to be a deciding factor in doing good business.”