PSLM Gets Support From Council to Persuade Harvard to Exit the FLA

Amid a flurry of labor activism at Harvard and across the country, the Undergraduate Council voted overwhelmingly last night to recommend that Harvard withdraw from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and join the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC).

Both organizations are designed to monitor overseas sweatshops, but members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM), the sponsors of the bill, said the FLA is too tied to corporate interests to be effective.

Over the past week, students have staged a series of demonstrations across the country in opposition to the FLA. Protesters at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin took over administrative buildings, and PSLM briefly occupied Mass Hall on Thursday to protest the organization.

"Our membership in the FLA legitimates an illegitimate organization," said PSLM member Benjamin L. McKean '02.

But University Attorney Allan A. Ryan Jr., the administration's chief negotiator on sweatshops, said the vote -43 to nine in favor of the bill--will have little immediate effect on University policy.

He questioned the legitimacy of the vote, since a representative of neither the FLA nor the administration was present.

"The Undergraduate Council had only one side of the story presented," Ryan said. "I respect what the [council] does, but I don't think it will result in any change of policy overnight."

Still, McKean said he hoped the vote would demonstrate the depth of students' concerns.

"Having the council vote on this issue sends a strong message to the administration that this is an issue that students care a lot about," said McKean, who is also a Crimson editor. "It solidifies the strong support that we already had."

"What I'd like to see happen is [for the bill] to give PSLM a vote of confidence and some legitimacy when they go to speak to the administration," said council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01.

The bill's detractors said the debate did not give FLA supporters a chance to defend the organization.

"I'd like to get to hear both sides of the issue," said John P. Marshall '01, a council representative.

Marshall also said the council overstepped its bounds in approving such a politicized bill.

"The council should focus on student concerns, things that directly affect students," he said. "This didn't have a whole lot to do with student governance."

But Driskell said the protests on campuses throughout the nation made the issue of sweatshop policy a primary student concern.

"It's been very much on the forefront of the national debate...[and] it didn't interfere in the council's other work," she said.

The council's vote came after a week full of labor activism.

Last Thursday, Harvard University Police Department officers evicted three PSLM members from Mass Hall after they played loud radio music, knocked on doors and handed out leaflets.

PSLM members said the demonstration was a response to a series of sit-ins across the country that called for universities to withdraw from the FLA and join the WRC.

One of the protests, a four-day sit-in at the University of Wisconsin ended in violence. At about 4 a.m. Sunday morning, municipal and university police officers arrested about 50 student protesters, three days after using pepper spray to gain access to the building. Wisconsin did agree to withdraw from the FLA and "conditionally" join the WRC.

A three-day sit-in at the University of Michigan concluded more peacefully as the administration agreed to join the WRC. Demonstrators occupying a dean's office placed the building for sale on the popular on-line auction site eBay.

Last week, the University of Pennsylvania became the first school to withdraw from the FLA, ending a nine-day student sit-in in the university president's office.

Temple University has also announced it will withdraw from the FLA by March 15 unless the organization enacts significant reforms.

To date, two schools have withdrawn from the FLA and eight have joined the WRC.

But Ryan said Harvard has no immediate plans to withdraw from the FLA and join the WRC.

He also condemned the use of sit-ins as a tactic.

"It's something we're following and will continue to follow, but just because other schools [withdraw] doesn't mean we're going to do it," he said. "[This is] particularly so when the actions of other schools come in response to sit-ins, because that's not how our policy is going to be shaped."

He said PSLM's brief occupation of Mass Hall did not serve its purpose.

"It didn't help things at all," he said. "They walked in and made a lot of noise and walked out again, and that just does not advance the case."