10A
Tuesday, August 22, 2000
Students Set to Target
FLA Monitoring System
By Elizabeth Breyer
Assistant University Editor
Two UNC-affiliated labor watchdog
groups continued to develop this sum
mer, making several changes in an effort
to create better ways of monitoring pro
duction conditions.
But some students said they will con
tinue to fight for the University to with
draw completely from its involvement
with one of those groups, the Fair Labor
Association.
Senior Kea Parker said students still
maintain the same attitude toward the
FLA as they had before the summer.
“One of our broad goals is to sever all
ties with the FLA and invest more ener
gy with the (Worker’s Rights
Consortium),” she said. “We’re still a
member of both, and we still have a
problem with that.”
But Auxiliary Services Director Rut
Tufts said both groups are improving.
The WRC supports more complete
disclosure of reports conducted by inde
pendent monitors and takes a proactive
stance to establish living wage indices
for each country.
The FLA carries out monitoring
through a system of internal auditors
and delegates who report back to the
BE connected/ BE involved/ BE rewarded!
Carolina Center
for
Public Service
www.unc.edu/cps
Suite 201 Bank of America Center
137 E. Franklin St., CB #3142
Chapel Hill, N.C., 27599
(919)843-7568
E-mail: cps@unc.edu
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group, and it
focuses less on
individual factory
disclosure and
wage conditions.
Tufts was elected
to the WRC Board
of Governors in
July. He will repre
sent all member
schools with licens
ing of more than
$1 million in rev
enue.
Tufts, who is
also the co-chair
man of the
Director of Auxiliary
Services
Rut Tufts
said both labor
groups were making
improvements.
Licensing and Labor Chancellor’s
Advisory Committee, said his role in the
WRC had helped improve its decision
making process. “The schools felt they
needed a stronger voice,” he said.
He led a movement to change the
allocation of votes on the WRC board,
creating an even split between repre
sentatives of students, universities and
professional labor advisory groups.
“The 5-5-5 (allocation of representa
tives) is far from ideal, but it is progress,”
Tufts said. He said the universities in the
WRC wanted to gain a stronger pres
ence because the FLA did not have
University
much room for their opinions.
Over the summer the WRC also
began the process of finding a perma
nent executive director.
The FLA has also made several
changes since May, including develop
ing and testing anew protocol for mon
itoring conditions in overseas factories.
“The FLA is at the point now in the
process of identifying and certifying
monitors so we can begin the process of
inspecting the conditions in licensing
production facilities,” Tufts said.
The LLCAC will meet throughout
the year to evaluate membership in both
groups and will make recommendations
to Chancellor James Moeser.
“Students for Economic Justice spoke
informally to Chancellor Moeser last
spring, and I sense that it will be the
same struggle as to which labor group
we should join,” Parker said.
Anthropology Professor Jim Peacock
was named LLCAC co-chairman when
Pete Andrews vacated the position in
May. Along with Andrews and business
Professor Nick Didow, Peacock taught a
course at UNC several years ago about
Nike Corp. and its working conditions.
The University Editor can be reached
* atudesk@unc.edu.
Worker Allies Seek Fair Deal!
By Elizabeth Breyer
Assistant University Editor
Student advocates for economic jus
tice plan to continue bringing the fight
for equality and fair treatment closer to
home this year by pushing for UNC
housekeepers’ rights.
The University branch ofUE Local
150, a statewide public service workers’
union, and members of the newly
formed campus group UEISO Solidarity
Network intend to band together to
meet workers’ demands.
“It’s important for students to invest
more energy in on-campus issues and
create more of a tie between the stu
dents and staff,” said Kea Parker, a net
work member.
The requests of housekeepers have
been a prominent issue at UNC since
1991, when several members of the
group filed a class-action grievance
claiming unfair wage practices and
racial discrimination.
“There are some fundamental things
that are issues every year,” said Sandi
Chapman, a member of the Solidarity
Network. “Respect on the job, the griev
ance process -and, of course, our long
term goal is for workers to earn a living
wage.”
Litigation and protest dragged on
until 1996, when the case finally
reached court. The late Chancellor
Michael Hooker reached a settlement
with the group after weeks of mediation,
signing an agreement that provided
retroactive salary increases, career train
ing programs and education and regular
meetings between housekeepers and
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DTH FILE PHOTO
UNC housekeepers gather in front of South Building in April 1999 .
to demand the resignation of Director of Housekeeping Michael O'Brieh.
University officials.
The agreement reached in this settle
ment expired in December.
Barbara Prear, head of the University
branch of UE 150, said housekeepers
are trying to meet with administrators to
renegotiate some of the issues that had
been contained in the setdement.
“There is no way to ever get a con
tract with the University, but we are try
ing to meet with them, although we are
having a real problem getting through to
them,” she said.
Since 1996, complaints have also
been aired about the potential for the
University to privatize maintenance and
housekeeping and about administrative
handling of filed grievances.
®he Daily sar BotL,
“Problems with the grievance process,
have been big in the past, but we will
continue to work on it by getting the
management to handle (grievances) sp
workers feel like someone is listening/
Chapman said.
Prear said recent changes to the orga ;
nization of the housekeeping division
spurred many of the current problems'
“The main issue is reorganization and
accountability of the director to the
workers themselves,” she said. “They
must meet with us as an organization -
what they have been doing is totally
unacceptable.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edb.