At an OUSU meeting on Wednesday evening two motions were passed in favour of ethically manufactured student stash.
Cherwell originally reported on the dubious ethical credentials of university branded clothing last term, and since then the campaign has been consolidated under the name ‘Buy Right’, part of OUSU’s Environment and Ethics committee.
It aims to ensure the Oxford crest does not appear on any clothing which has been made my people who have been exploited in sweat shops.
Sean Robinson, a student at the Queen’s College who proposed the motions, said that the fact that both motions passed unopposed “shows the support this issue has amongst the student community”.
The first motion resolved to “encourage common rooms to mandate Environment & Ethics reps to be responsible for ensuring that … all clothing that is bought by the common room or groups related to the common room is ethically produced”.
The second motion noted that “it is not uncommon for (often female) factory workers to be sexually abused at their work place, not have the right to unionise, receive no healthcare and/or education, earn wages as low as five pence per hour, work up to 18 hour shifts and 80 hours per week”.
The motion mandated the E&E committee to campaign for Oxford Limited, a business subsidiary of the University responsible for the global licensing of the Oxford brand, to affiliate with the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC). The WRC is an independent US organisation which monitors companies in order to protect the rights of workers in garment production.
Robinson told Cherwell, “If Oxford Ltd want, as they claim, to ensure good conditions for their workers, why are they keeping those conditions secret? Harvard have done it, Princeton have done it: 188 colleges and universities have signed up to the Workers Rights Consortium: why won’t Oxford?”
Campaigners have drawn attention to the cause with fundraisers such as a 2011 calendar various sports teams and societies posing nude with the slogan, “I’d rather go naked than wear sweatshop”.
Robinson said, “The campaign is gaining momentum with many things scheduled this term such as a make your own stash event and the release of an ethical procurement handbook for JCRs”.
