Florida Students End 142 Day Occupation.

Students at Florida State University ended a 142-day occupation of parts of their campus in protest to their university condoning sweatshop labour. The occupation finally ended when the college President (equivalent of VC) agreed to meet with representatives of USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops) and the Workers' Rights Consortium to discuss a way forward.
Members of the NUS NEC sent the following statement
"We the undersigned members of NUS NEC send support and greetings to the Florida students' occupation in defence of workers' rights. We believe the student movement should join the fight against sweatshops, and for living wages, decent conditions and the right to organise free trade unions."
Kat Fletcher, Kath Owen, Carli Harper-Penman, Faz Velmi, Daniel Murphy, Belle Turner, Dervish Mertcan, Helen Symons, Hasan Patel.
Florida Student Dan Katz takes up the story
The Florida students are part of a mass movement - United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) - on American campuses. USAS exists at around 350 colleges and has extensive links both to the US labour movement, and with sweatshop workers and their organisations in Mexico, Central America and in the Caribbean.
The Florida students were demanding that their administration leave the Fair Labour Association (FLA) and join the USAS backed monitoring system the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC). The FLA was set up on Bill Clinton's initiative; it is backed by major sweatshop employers - Reebok, Nike and adidas. The FLA is a PR operation for the sweatshop manufacturers. There have been a large number of sit-ins and protests over the past couple of years to get college authorities to back the WRC. The struggle in Florida is simply the latest. Florida State is, however, a particularly bitter fight. The FSU president is lined up with the FLA; the students have run a long campaign and have taken arrests and abuse during their recent sit in.
Every year, Florida State University collects about $1.7 million from the licensing of the use of the university logo. Most of that money comes from the use of the FSU logo on sportswear. FSU thus faces a moral issue that confronts all universities: The university profits from an industry that is notorious for abysmal working conditions. Apparel workers in the developing world commonly work for sub-living wages in dangerous and chemically polluted workplaces; they are often forced to work long hours without proper compensation, and companies regularly fire and intimidate workers who try to form unions. Women make up a large part of this workforce worldwide, and physical and sexual abuse is routine. Women in the apparel industry are often coerced to take contraceptives, and they are fired if they become pregnant.
An organisation called the Worker Rights Consortium has been formed in order to enable universities to help improve the working conditions of those who produce the clothing that bears university logos. The WRC creates an avenue for workers in the developing world to make their concerns known to universities and to socially conscious consumers in the industrialised world. Last year, the WRC played a central role in the formation of the first apparel workers union in Mexico that is entirely controlled by the workers themselves, and not by political parties. The primary funding for the WRC comes from colleges and universities. Ninety-five schools nationwide have pledged one percent of their licensing revenues to the WRC which in FSU's case would be an annual fee of $17,000 as a way of trying to improve the lives of some of the hardest working, lowest paid people in the world.
This matter was studied for a year by a joint faculty/student committee appointed by the FSU Faculty Senate. That committee, which included representatives of the Economics Department and the School of Business who were initially sceptical about the WRC, came to the unanimous conclusion that FSU should join this organisation. The Faculty Senate and Student Senate passed resolutions supporting that conclusion. President D'Alemberte has rejected the consensus of the Student Senate, the Faculty Senate, and the director of the Human Rights Center that FSU should join the WRC.
FSU belongs to an organisation called the Fair Labor Association, which also claims to look out for the rights of workers in the developing world. The problem with the FLA is that it is controlled by the very companies that the organisation is supposed to monitor. The FLA monitoring system consists of intermittent inspections by auditing firms that are chosen by the companies whose factories are being inspected. A recent article in the Economist of London calls this approach a failure, and says that the newest and most promising approach is to emancipate workers so that they can stand up for themselves. This is the philosophy of the WRC, and FSU should commit one percent of its licensing revenues $17,000 out of $1.7 million and join this organisation.
The $1.7 million in licensing revenues along with $3 million a year in an endorsement contract with Nike go directly to the University Boosters. The purpose of the Boosters is to support FSU's aspirations to excellence in all areas. The Boosters should now join the rest of the FSU community the students and the faculty in urging President D'Alemberte to place FSU among our academic and athletic peers at universities such as the University of Michigan, Duke, and the University of North Carolina, and adopt their ethical standards as members of the Worker Rights Consortium.
Several students erected a tent city on Landis Green after 12 students were arrested for a peaceful demonstration. Students are protesting Florida State University's refusal to join the Workers Rights Consortium and the University's continued use of sweatshop labour to produce apparel. Landis Green is one of two "free speech zones" on campus. Police have been periodically checking on the tent city.
Around 4:00 am, Saturday, March 30, a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler (or a vehicle similar in appearance) drove onto Landis Green and began driving in circles. Tiretracks are still visible on Landis Green and are only 10 feet away from tents which students were sleeping inside of. Two people also got out of the vehicle and jumped onto tents. Students expressed a fear for their lives. When peaceful demonstrators are nearly killed for exercising their constitutional rights, the act can be called nothing short of terrorism. During what police are describing as an "aggravated assault", a bucket of white paint was spread on the side of the vehicle. One passenger was released from the vehicle before the attack and appeared to be incredibly intoxicated. When University Police allowed that individual to leave, he stated that he was walking to the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house.
Two students, later joined by three others, walked to the Pi Kappa Alpha house after police exited the scene to see if the vehicle was driven to the fraternity house. As two of the students walked into the parking lot at the Pi Kappa Alpha house around 5:30 am, one person was closing a wooden gate to the house while a dark-colored Jeep was beginning to exit the lot. When the two students began to run towards the vehicle, the Jeep sped out of the parking lot, turning right. The two students observed a large white colouring on the passenger side of the vehicle, leading all to assume this was the same vehicle that was used to commit the terrorist attack on Landis Green earlier. Police arrived at the Pi Kappa Alpha house and knocked on the front door. The students stated that they watched a man inside the house turn out a light and sit down just out of view. Police stated that they could do nothing more and told the students to go back to Landis Green.
Protester Tony Williams stated, "This event- this terrorist act- will not deter us from standing up for the rights of workers around the world and joining in their struggle. But students are in fear of their lives, and the University is doing next to nothing. The Chief of Police was called off of vacation to arrest twelve peaceful demonstrators Monday evening, and a bus was used to take those students to the Leon County Jail. And now, when peaceful demonstrators were nearly killed... came within ten feet of losing their lives... the University appears to be crossing their fingers that they will happen to see the vehicle used. Where are the University's priorities?"
The students continue to remain on Landis Green at the moment, 9:10 AM, protesting FSU's refusal to join the Workers Rights Consortium. Many are still shaken and fear for their lives. They are still trying to decide what to do in response to the early morning assault.
This is definitely a long and rigorous campaign. It did not begin, of course, with public action. We lobbied FSU's Faculty Senate, and they voted on an official recommendation for FSU to join the Worker Rights Consortium. Although no official count was taken, it passed with only four Senators voting against it and the rest of sixty Senators approving.
Our Student Senate voted on a similar resolution, with similar results. It passed with only 3 or 4 members not approving it out of 60 total. An excerpt from that resolution goes as follows:
"We urge President D'Alemberte to be consistent with the values of the Florida State University and to join the WRC in order to improve the lives of millions of workers around the world who make FSU logo sportswear."
Ultimately, it is our president's discision, Talbot D'Alemberte. He has changed his reasoning for not joining various times. It is my opinion, and the view of many others, that there is a conflict of interest with NIKE, whom we have a $21.7 million contract over 7 years with.
During the summer, there are not nearly as many students, so we have been focusing our efforts in different areas. We are going to have a teach-in next Tuesday, in an effort to educate more students on the sweatshop issue. Once the Fall semester starts, and all of the students are back, we are planning on some large rallies.

Messages can be sent to President D'Alemberte at dalember@mailer.fsu.edu, with messages of support to rak5148@garnet.acns.fsu.edu.