Notre Dame joins group that monitors sweatshops

When it comes to sweatshop abuses, the University of Notre Dame would rather err on the side of caution.\nTuesday, officials announced that the university will join the Workers Rights Consortium, a watchdog group that monitors factories that produce collegiate apparel. Notre Dame already belongs to the Fair Labor Association, another such group, and conducts its own independent reviews of seven of its subcontracted factories.\nWith 74 schools signed on, the consortium excludes corporate involvement, which the group feels would create a conflict of interest. But the Fair Labor Association involves manufacturers and human rights groups in the process. \n"It is our hope," said Notre Dame Associate Vice President William Hoye, "that a partnership between between the WRC and Notre Dame will improve conditions for workers while helping to focus attention on this important issue."\nSweatshop activist Aaron Kreider, who led a student rally on the South Bend campus in February, heralded the news as a "great victory for students and workers."\nKreider has worked overtime toward getting Notre Dame to sign on to the consortium. He gathered a petition of more than 400 signatures, convinced student government to pass a resolution supporting membership and staged the rally, which drew more than 100 activists despite 28-degree weather. \nThe administration had not kept Krieder and others informed of its plans, and he said he was worried about being "excluded from the decision-making process."\nStudent activists across the country have endorsed the consortium instead of the Fair Labor Association, which the Clinton administration fostered. IU, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, joined it last February. \nBasing the decision on a university-appointed task force's report, Hoye said Notre Dame will continue to pursue its own anti-sweatshop initiatives. The private Catholic school with an enrollment of about 10,000 has long been at the forefront of the issue. \nIn 1997, it became the first college to establish a code of conduct for subcontracted factories making its licensed apparel. Two years later, it became the first to monitor factories for human rights abuses. Notre Dame was a founding member of the 152-member Fair Labor Association, which was formed in response to student demonstrations across the country.\nNo other college or university belongs to both groups.\nNotre Dame was also the first university to ban the production of licensed apparel in countries that do not recognize the legal rights of workers to organize. As of Jan. 30, none of its apparel -- which is one of the best-selling lines in the country -- will be turned out of factories in China and nine other countries.\nHoye said he hopes the University will take a leadership role in the consortium.\n"I think it would be good for the WRC," said junior Nancy Steffan, a sweatshop activist at IU. "They have a good track record on the issue"