Penn University supports Accord

As the first university to take this step, the University of Pennsylvania has urged all its apparel suppliers

 making a range of t-shirts, sweatshirts and other clothing with the university logo to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

“Penn will verify whether apparel licensees source, produce or purchase collegiate apparel in Bangladesh and will ensure that they are signatories of the Accord prior to granting or renewing a license,” the university said in a statement on its website on December 5th.

Universities issue licenses to brands, usually sportswear companies, to make their university apparel. These license agreements are highly lucrative for the brands, generating millions of dollars in revenue per year as well as publicity.

Prior to the decision by Penn University, hundreds of students had signed a petition created by the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), urging their university to make manufacturers of Penn apparel sign the Accord. This petition was addressed to the university’s Committee for Manufacturer Responsibility (CMR) and urged it to update the language of its Code of Workplace Conduct for Penn Apparel Licensees. The Worker's Rights Consortium (WRC), one of Penn’s monitoring agencies, also encourages all colleges and universities to require their apparel licensees to sign the Accord.

The administration of the University of Pennsylvania relies on the CMR, which is comprised of faculty members, students, staff and administration to “actively evaluate and monitor the labor activities and socially responsible practices of University licensees”. A few days ago, the Committee unanimously voted in favor of approving a resolution that encouraged the university to make this decision.

The student petition also asked the Committee to allow the formation of labor unions in the factories producing collegiate apparel so that they can legally address major health and safety concerns. In addition, the petition demanded to grant workers the right to refuse to work in an unsafe environment. An important point, given that the death toll at the Rana Plaza building collapse in April of this year was so high because workers were forced to return to a building that showed visible cracks, fearing pay cuts or loss of jobs. So against better judgement, the workers returned to work and more than 1,100 of them never made it out alive.

According to SLAP, of the brands manufacturing Penn apparel, only Adidas and Knight Apparel have signed the Bangladesh Accord so far while the majority of companies like Soffe, Russell Athletic and Box Seat Clothing Co. have not signed.

How much pressure universities can put on their licensees shows the case of Adidas and Cornell University. In October of last year, Cornell had dismissed Adidas as a licensee, citing unpaid severance pay to workers at the Indonesian garment factory PT Kizone where Cornell apparel was made.

After much back and forth and with two more universities - Wisconsin-Madison and Rutgers - pulling out, as well as quite a bit of negative publicity, Adidas finally came around and announced in April of this year that it would take care of the outstanding severance payments. Keeping this example in mind, Penn University licensees should think twice before resisting the Accord for too long or risk losing their lucrative licensing agreements.