Working for changes

For 10 years, Peggy MacPeak made baseball caps on the assembly line at a New Era factory in Derby, N.Y. Her job was to force a piece of cardboard into the bill before stitching it closed. It was grueling, monotonous work, but she said she was always proud of the caps she helped to make.\nThat was before she blew out three discs in the back of her neck, the direct result, her doctors said, of hunching over. She had to have surgery to repair her neck, and at age 50, it left her unable to continue working.\n"I went through all of my surgery, and they had no regard for me because I couldn't keep producing," she said. \nThe fight for improved labor conditions is fought at the Derby factory every day. Sunday, that battle will come to IU and then campuses all across the country. The Workers Rights Consortium will visit IU at 8 p.m. Sunday to gain support for the New Era workers, and to discuss their campaign in Mexico. It is the first stop on a 10-day, 12-university tour. The meeting will be in Woodburn Hall Room 101.\nDebbie Labruna, an New Era representative for corporate relations, said she would not comment on MacPeak's injury or New Era's labor policies at this time.\nMacPeak's injury is just one of a trend of work-related injuries at the New Era factory. Almost all of her co-workers have been injured in some sort, she said, mentioning carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and sprained backs as commonplace.\n"Every person I know at New Era has been to a doctor because of how they make the caps," she said. "I had to have surgery because of them."\n A growing number of complaints by employees in Derby similar to McPeak's set off alarms at the WRC, an organization created by colleges to inspect labor abuses in factories where college apparel is made. \n The WRC visited the Derby factory this summer, and it found high rates of worker injury, member said. The official report, released in August, found that nearly half of the employees have been diagnosed with a musculo-skeletal disorder associated with their job. It specifically blamed New Era for the injuries, stating that "New Era has yet to implement minimally adequate occupational health and safety protocols." \nSince the WRC report was issued, the workers at the plant have gone on strike, demanding improved working conditions. But the company refuses to acknowledge that there is a serious problem, MacPeak said.\nMacPeak wonders how long she and others will have to fight.\n"They have no regard for our injuries," she said. "They just don't seem to realize what they're doing. Once your hands and back start to go, they throw you out the door to get some new hands and new backs."\nThe WRC works with universities to monitor labor abuses worldwide. Factories where college apparel is produced are investigated by the WRC, which compiles its findings and presents it to the affiliated universities. The goal of this collaboration is that with the information in these reports, colleges can then use their leverage to force companies to improve working conditions. \nScott Nova, executive director of the WRC, said universities benefit from his organization. \n"We work with universities to convince them to put pressure on suppliers to eliminate violations and to improve respect for worker rights," Nova said. "Universities want to make sure that the values they teach students are reflected in their own business practices."\nIn response to the New Era violations, IU's WRC advisory board and the chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops sent a letter to New Era in mid-November, urging them to cooperate with the report. \nSenior Nancy Steffan, an IU member of USAS, said she hopes New Era will listen to the demands of colleges and improve the labor conditions. \n"We expect New Era to comply," she said. "Universities are big consumers of apparel, and they should use that leverage to monitor the factories." \nNova said IU should take the labor abuses at New Era seriously, although he said it is unusual for them to occur in the U.S. \n"Labor rights are violated in the U.S. as they are overseas," he said. "Our obligation is to help enforce codes of conduct whether the factory is in Buffalo or Bangladesh"