Posted on July 31: McMaster is first Canadian University to affiliate with Worker Rights Consortium
McMaster is the first university in Canada to become a member of the Worker Rights Consortium, a non-profit organization which assists universities and colleges in ensuring that the factories that produce clothing and other goods bearing university names respect the basic rights of workers. More than 100 academic bodies, including Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Cornell and Duke universities, are affiliated with the WRC.
McMaster joined the WRC in June, making it the first University in Canada to do so. Created by college and university administrations, students and labor rights experts, the WRC's purpose is to assist in the enforcement of manufacturing codes of conduct adopted by colleges and universities.
The membership illustrates McMaster's commitment to ensuring an end to worker oppression and exploitation. It also reinforces the University's belief in, and commitment to, a new policy approved in June by McMaster's senior administration.
A Code of Labour Practices for University Suppliers and Licensees is aimed at ensuring McMaster apparel (T-shirts for example, sold in the Bookstore or used for summer camps) and non-apparel licensed products (such as coffee mugs) are manufactured and sold by companies with ethical labour standards and practices (most of which are based on widely accepted conventions of the United Nation's International Labour Organization.)
The code is a statement of minimum standards with respect to labour practices and was developed by a McMaster ad hoc committee comprised of members of the faculty, staff and student associations, various university departments and other interested groups.
Corporate social responsibility
The code states that “McMaster is committed to conducting its business affairs in a socially responsible and ethical manner consistent with its educational, research and service missions, and to protecting and preserving the global environment.”
“We're very pleased to have developed this policy after two years of hard work. It is truly a co-operative effort, with much of the work and support coming from the grassroots,” says political science and labour studies professor Don Wells, who helped to develop the policy and represented the McMaster University Faculty Association on the committee. “One of the important things about the process of developing the code was that was very non-heiarchical. We did it all together in what was an extraordinary example of co-operation and commitment, especially by those who were members of the subcommittee that drafted most of the code. This was truly a collective effort.”
The committee was established by University President Peter George and chaired initially by the late Mary Keyes, associate vice-president student affairs. Since then, the Office of the Vice-President Administration has provided much assistance and support through the process and as the policy moves beyond development and into implementation. In addition to those interviewed in this article, the committee members included Tina Puchalski (McMaster Association of Part-time Students), Heather Grigg (CIS), Bruce Rudyk (formerly of the MSU), and Glenn Fletcher (McMaster University Staff Association).
The code initially applies to all McMaster suppliers and licensees (and their subcontractors) who produce, distribute or sell McMaster apparel and licensed products but will likely be expanded to other products in the future. The policy applies to new contracts (and the University will not be eliminating any suppliers it already has contracts with.)
Compliance monitored
Under the policy, the University will be asking its suppliers to provide supply/production chain information that includes the location of factories and the various products produced. All suppliers that produce items bearing the name, logo, image or trademark of the university are to disclose the locations and practices to ensure that production and supply chains meet code guidelines. The documentation will be kept on record for monitoring and compliance purposes and be made publicly available on the WRC Web site.
Sara Tedford, a member of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group-McMaster and the Graduate Students Association, is one of the committee members. She's pleased with the new policy and McMaster's decision to join the WRC.
“This strengthens the possibilities for independent monitoring as well as the public disclosure aspect of the policy,” says Tedford. “The connection will provide for learning opportunities and enable McMaster to draw upon the WRC's expertise in the event that there are concerns.” Tedford hopes McMaster and other institutions will join forces to form a Canadian association.
In developing the labour practice code, the McMaster committee consulted with the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN), the Toronto-based secretariat of Canada's anti-sweatshop campaigning coalition.
“McMaster has become the first university in Canada to affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium. In the Canadian context, what McMaster is doing is trailblazing. It's only a first step, but an important one,” says Ian Thomson of MSN.
Membership in the organization will provide the university with knowledge of where products are coming from and with access to the WRC's investigative capabilities (if there is a problem within a specific country that is supplying goods to member institutions, the WRC will investigate).
Policy implementation
Implementing the policy here at home –ensuring code compliance — is the responsibility of a number of people at McMaster. In the Bookstore, for example, Donna Shapiro, also a member of the committee, will be asking her buyers to get suppliers and vendors to voluntarily provide information about their manufacturers and suppliers. She's currently developing a form for suppliers and a records system to monitor compliance. To ensure campus buyers know the products they purchase meet the code, Shapiro is considering affixing some sort of “code compliant” language to sales tags. “We want to be fair and upfront with our customers.”
While the code applies to McMaster-crested apparel and giftware at this point, Shapiro hopes to apply the policy to the purchase of uncrested giftware items sold by the store. Exactly how easy or difficult it will be to obtain the supplier chain information is currently an unknown for Shapiro. “All the companies we source from are Canadian and are smaller companies, so we don't know how big the problem might be or how long the chains might be on some of the items we carry that come from offshore.”
In purchasing resources, director Terry Galan will be developing guidelines for areas and departments to follow. While much of the University apparel is sold through the Bookstore, Galan says departments will often order items such as T-shirts (for camps, events, conferences and so on) through purchasing. “We'll be developing a supplier list for things such as T-shirts,” says Galan. He believes the University's focus on code-compliant apparel is a good place to begin this kind of initiative. “You start with baby steps and you build.” Galan says McMaster contacted American universities to discuss the mechanics of developing a labour practice policy.
New fair trade coffee policy
He notes that a related policy on fair trade coffee (also approved with the labour practices code), endorsed this month is one that no other university in Canada has yet. “We are one of the first to have a university policy on fair trade coffee,” he remarks. “It makes a lot of people happy to see that this is happening. Coffee drinkers at McMaster will have a choice when it comes to the coffee they drink.” (The fair trade coffee policy also applies to new contracts.)
Athletics & recreation is one of the first groups on campus to actively consider and incorporate the new labour practices code policy in its agreements with suppliers. “They are really pioneers in this area,” says Wells. “They began implementing the code before it was approved.”
In fact, when the department signed a three-year, non-exclusive (preferred supplier) deal earlier this year for Nike Canada to supply athletic apparel, the number one priority was ensuring the fit was good for McMaster. “The first priority was to select a partner that is committed to conducting its business in a socially responsible and ethical manner consistent with the education, research and service mission of McMaster,” says director Therese Quigley. “Secondly, we wanted our student athletes, coaches and staff to have access to high quality innovative products at the best possible price.”
McMaster's contract with Nike Canada exceeds the minimum compliance standards outlined in the new code. The new apparel is being worn by staff and athletes on the fields this summer.
“So many people and organizations on campus have worked hard on this issue that (our work) mustn't simply end with the approval of this policy,” remarks Tedford. “We need to evaluate the code and look at the possibilities for broadening it over time. We need to work with other universities in doing that and in looking at how we (collectively) purchase other things. These are policies that will eventually work their way beyond apparel, coffee and other items.”
For both the committee and the campus community, the work ahead lies in embracing the new policy and making it work. That means educating purchasers and maintaining the momentum that comes with bringing in a new policy.
A living document
The code is a living document and, as such, can be changed in a step-by-step fashion over time as McMaster deems to be desirable and feasible.
“We're all excited about this new policy,” says Galan. “It's being done for all the right reasons. It's a living document that will evolve. We have to start with baby steps and we think this is a great first step.”
