2
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004
UNC to take look at supplier
Panel investigates
possible breaches
BY LINDSAY MICHEL
STAFF WRITER
University officials have pledged
to continue making strides in
uncovering information regarding
the alleged infringements of work
ers’ rights by a major supplier of
UNC licensees.
Investigations by the Fair Labor
Association and the Workers’
Rights Consortium found last
month that Gildan Activewear, a
Canadian company that supplies
blank T-shirts to UNC licensees
as well as to the licensees of more
than 55 other universities has
not met the labor standards set by
these organizations.
The company’s El Progreso plant
in Honduras reportedly violated its
workers’ rights to freedom of asso
ciation, failed to pay 39 workers’
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6 p.m. Wednesday, November 10
Carroll Hall Auditorium
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back wages and allegedly harassed
and abused workers.
The University’s Licensing
Labor Code Advisory Committee
now is gathering information
from the FLA and WRC, as well
as from other universities whose
licensees source from Gildan,
to decide whether the company
should remain a major supplier to
University licensees.
But because Gildan could be in
violation of the University’s code of
conduct, it is likely that UNC will
ask licensees to cut ties with the
company, said Melanie Stratton, a
member of Students United for a
Responsible Global Environment.
The group is working with the
committee to investigate the claims.
“(UNC was) so instrumental
in bringing other schools into the
WRC,” she said. “UNC knows its
responsibility to uphold its code of
conduct. It will really show a prec
edent that we support our code of
conduct and that we ask our licens
ees to do the same.”
Derek Lochbaum, UNC’s director
of trademarks and licensing, said it is
possible though unlikely that
the University will experience large
financial fluctuations from the case.
“It is possible that we could see a
decline in revenue."
All UNC Student Stores revenues
go to scholarships. Last year, $2.3
million, or 75 percent of the money,
went to academic scholarships.
About $868,000, or 25 percent, was
allocated to athletic scholarships.
But Lochbaum said the more per
tinent issue is making sure the UNC
logo represents standards upheld by
the University community.
UNC last investigated work
ers’ rights infringements in 2001,
when the committee looked into
labor conditions in a Mexican Nike
Corp. factory. The investigation
was prompted by an 800-employee
strike at the Kukdong International
factory in Puebla, Mexico.
Nike eventually demonstrated
its compliance with workers’ rights
laws and incorporated UNC’s code
of conduct into its contract.
Lochbaum said the Gildan situ
ation is much different because
the company is not a licensee of
UNC, but rather a supplier to the
University’s licensees.
He said that the labor commit
tee will most likely meet in early
December to debate labor issues, and
that members ultimately will make
a recommendation to the University
about whether Gildan should con
tinue to supply to its licensees.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
UNC Law Federalist Society presents...
ALAN KEYES
Wednesday I
Nov i o th Law School
7:00 pm Rotunda
Hear the former Presidential and Senatorial
candidate speak about issues important to us and
future generations.
This speaker is paid for, in part, with student fees
allocated from Student Congress
J Mondays (All Day) • All-you-can-eat spaghetti
(includes salad & bread) for $5.25
■■ • $2.00 domestic bottles
JJ Tuesdays (All Day) • Two for the price of one burgers
■■■ (must purchase 2 drinks)
CL * $2.00 domestic pints
Wednesday Nights • Fried catfish $7.95
Y— • $3.00 tar heel blue margaritas
Thursday Nights • $3.00 martinis
E • All sororities eat half price on all
food items (must wear Greek letters)
Lj Friday Nights • $2.00 highballs
> Saturday Nights • $2.50 shooters
q (shooters vary week to week)
LUNCH COMBOS - MONDAY-FRIDAY • $5.45
Choose any two of the choices below:
Broccoli Cheese Soup - Potato Soup -1/2 Club Sandwich
1/2 French Dip Sandwich -1/2 Chicken Salad Sandwich - Baked Potato
Salad Bowl with Choice of Dressing - French Onion Soup (add $1.00)
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Now Open 1 lam-9pm Sunday-Thursday & 1 lam-11:30pm Friday & Saturday
News
Chapel Hill hands off
annexation discussion
BY JENNIFER FAIR
STAFF WRITER
By the end of Monday night’s
Chapel Hill Town Council meeting,
residents of two Orange County
neighborhoods were one step clos
er to knowing the town to which
they will belong.
The two subdivisions, Highlands
and Highland Meadows, sent peti
tions to the town of Chapel Hill
in October requesting a voluntary
annexation after learning that the
town of Carrboro had issued a reso
lution of intent to annex the areas.
The Town Council unanimously
passed Monday a motion to refer
all comments and material received
from residents to the Carrboro
Board of Aldermen and to inform
the aldermen that they are open to
conversation if Carrboro initiates it
On Sept. 14, Carrboro issued an
intent to annex what it called Area
A and Area B.
The Highlands and Highland
Meadows neighborhoods are part
of Area A. Area B includes neigh
borhoods on the northern portion
of Rogers Road.
“I think we’re seeing the dance
municipalities play” said Highlands
resident Brian Voyce. He added
that there are issues of respect
between the different town govern
ments that are being addressed.
“The burden of the issue is on
the town of Carrboro,” Voyce said.
Chapel Hill Town Manager
Cal Horton said there are legal
restraints that prevent the council
from taking action.
Terms of agreements between
the towns do not allow Chapel
Hill to annex areas located in the
Carrboro transition area, and the
areas do not meet the requirements
to be considered a satellite area,
according to Horton’s recommen
dation to the council.
Carrboro also has jurisdiction
over the area because it was the
first town to adopt a resolution of
intent to annex it.
“What may have looked good
on paper nearly two decades ago is
not the best plan for citizens today,”
said Highlands resident Sharon
Cook at Monday’s meeting.
Other residents present at the
meeting talked about reasons why
they want to be annexed by Chapel
Hill instead of Carrboro.
“My life revolves around Chapel
Hill,” said Highlands resident
Rickard Faith.
Nancy Salmon, another
Highlands resident, talked about
the response times of the Chapel
Hill and Carrboro fire departments.
It takes 12 minutes for Carrboro’s
fire department to get to the neigh
borhoods when there is no traf
fic, compared to the three-minute
response time of the Chapel Hill
department, she said.
“Highlands is much closer physi
cally and philosophically to the
town of Chapel Hill,” she added.
Other Highlands residents echoed
iailg (Ear Mwl
her sentiment and said there is a
difference in values between their
neighborhoods and the towns.
“The question of annexation
remains one of values,” Voyce said
Monday. “I will ask Carrboro offi
cials to begin a dialogue with you, a
dialogue to do the right thing.”
Carrboro Planning Director Roy
Williford said Tuesday that the
department has not yet received
information from the council.
Charlie Buckner, a resident of
Area B, has written a letter that he
will deliver to the aldermen and to
the Chapel Hill mayor stating his
opposition to annexation.
“We prefer not to be annexed,”
he said. “But if we have to, we want
it to be in Chapel Hill.”
Carrboro will hold a public
forum on the proposed annexation
Hiesday.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
Aldermen
won’t shift
grave site
Developers can't
find next of kin
BY TED STRONG
STAFF WRITER
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen
unanimously denied Hiesday a devel
oper’s request to relocate a group of
graves off Merritt Mill Road.
The graves, whose occupants are
unknown, would have been moved
to make way for a 164-unit apart
ment complex proposed by the
South Atlantic Group.
“It was exhilarating. I’m glad,”
said William Gattis, a local resident
who has spearheaded the resistance
to the relocations.
“I didn’t think it was going to
turn out this way,” he said, add
ing that he was concerned that the
aldermen would accept the devel
opers’ proposal. “It was like the one
against the many.”
Steve Simpson of South Atlantic
and Boscoe Fulcher of Woodlawn
Memorial Gardens, the firm
Southern Atlantic employed to
manage the disinterment, both
declined comment after the aider
men’s decision.
Before the aldermen made their
decision, Gattis gave an account
of the black community that had
existed in the location before
Ready Mixed Concrete in Chapel
Hill moved in.
“It’s been sad to watch how it’s
been destroyed over the years,”
Gattis said.
After Gattis and two other com
munity members spoke to oppose
the idea, Alderman Alex Zaffron
proposed that the board make a deci
sion. “I’ve heard enough. The ques
tions that have been raised confirm
the questions I raised last time.”
Mayor Mike Nelson commended
the developers for responding to the
aldermen’s earlier request that the
company do more to identify the
interred individuals, but agreed with
the aldermen that more research
was needed and that efforts should
be made to preserve the graves.
In order to move the graves, the
developers need the consent of the
next of kin, permission from the
town of Carrboro and a permit
from the Orange County Health
Department.
But the developers have had dif
ficulty in locating the next of kin
because the exact identity of the
people interred is unknown.
Gattis’ 93-year-old mother and
Randy Bright, of Bright Funeral
Home and Cremation in Wake
Forest, disagree about how many
graves exist.
Bright found evidence of an adult
and a child, but Martha Gattis told
William Gattis that three people with
the last name Strowd Mama, Lou
and Callie were buried there.
When town officials called, she
said she was uncertain who was
buried there.
If developers make an effort to
locate the next of kin and are unsuc
cessful, the town can grant them per
mission to move the bodies.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
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Michelle Jarboe, Editor, 962-4086
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