No Sweat! informs on labor practices of hat manufacturer

Protestors stood outside the IU Bookstore Thursday, supporting IU apparel workers they say work in unsafe conditions at the New Era factory in Derby, N.Y.\nThe national day of action was organized by United Students Against Sweatshops, No Sweat! and Local 4730 of the Communications Workers of America. \n"Would you like to help support the rights of IU apparel workers?" members of No Sweat! asked passers-by outside store. Members held signs and passed out fliers at the event. \nNew Era makes baseball caps for IU and is the official cap-maker for Major League Baseball. \n"The workers of the New Era factory have been on strike for numerous code violations since June 16, 2001," said senior Bennet Baumer. This occured in response to management-imposed wage cuts of 30 to 50 percent, the company's refusal to bargain for a fair contract and because of health and safety violations, according to CWA.\n"There is substantial evidence that New Era is violating Indiana University's Code of Conduct," said senior Nancy Steffan. \nNew Era has denied these allegations.\nIU adopted the code of conduct regarding manufacturing conditions of its apparel when it joined the Worker Rights Consortium, an independent factory-monitoring organization. Dean of Students Richard McKaig, chairman of the sweatshop committee, said the committee would assess the situation and decide what action to take. \nLast year, urged by McKaig's committee, IU President Myles Brand sent a letter to Nike protesting working conditions at factories in Mexico. McKaig emphasized the need for solidarity with other universities to have a larger impact both economically and socially.\n"Any single university doesn't have enough pull in the market," McKaig said.\n"Because the work involves a lot of sewing, bone punctures on the job were extremely common, and New Era has only recently provided equipment that is safe," said graduate student Judi Nitsch. "The company also told employees that they would be risking their worker's compensation if they participated in union demonstrations."\nWRC reported other threats to employees involved in CWA, and evidence that New Era management broke into union property to remove documents pertaining to safety violations.\nIn an August interview in The New York Times, David Koch, chairman of New Era, explained the pressure he has felt from retailers to lower costs to better compete. New Era is the only major hat producer which still operates in the United States, and in order to better compete, the company was forced to obtain some hats from overseas, he said.\nSue Stancu, who works in the IU Music Library, was walking through the Indiana Memorial Union when she stopped to talk to the group. Stancu signed a postcard urging Chris Koch, New Era CEO to negotiate with workers and respond to the alleged violations of the IU Code of Conduct. \n"I'm sympathetic to workers trying to organize unions," Stancu said. "They have had too much trouble in the past."\nBaumer said his group is hoping to educate about the problems faced by New Era employees.\n"We're not calling for a boycott because the workers haven't called for a boycott," Baumer said. "We're focusing on education, trying to let the University know we're here, and to put pressure on New Era to listen to worker demands."\nA representative from New Era could not be reached for comment.