Stop buying New Era

As a recent alumnus of IU-Bloomington and a founding member of No Sweat! at IU, I was disappointed by Dean of Students Richard McKaig's statement last week regarding the strike at the New Era plant where IU hats are made.\nThese workers have been on strike for more than 13 weeks over terrible health and safety conditions and drastic wage cuts. The Workers Rights Consortium, of which IU is a founding member has clearly stated that this is a sweatshop. Without a strike, the WRC would never recommend a boycott of a sweatshop. The point is to support workers, not take away their work. A strike situation is different, the work has already been moved to locations with even worse conditions and any and all direct intervention is appropriate.\nA letter just won't cut the mustard. If IU chooses to remain at the forefront the university anti-sweatshop coalition, they should pull all New Era merchandise from the shelves and stop all orders. The merchandise that is arriving on the shelves today is made by scab labor and if it is not scab labor, it is made by people who do not know their work is hurting this strike.\nYou can do better than a letter, IU. Pull the New Era merchandise from the shelf and let the members of No Sweat! put up a display that will educate the campus community about sweatshop conditions at New Era instead. Send the letter to the striking workers describing your support for their strike. The boss will get the message when the orders for IU merchandise stop. Other sellers of New Era merchandise in the IU community should remove it from their shelves as well. There will be plenty of time to sell New Era hats when this strike is won.