Hungry For Justice

The Purdue Hunger Strike reaches day 25.

The hunger strike is the latest — and by far the most dramatic — action in an 18-month student effort to encourage a new strategy activists say will facilitate better labor practices in the factories that produce garments with the Boilermakers’ logo. After a handful of rallies, a “dance-in” and a number of other informational events proved ineffective, about 15 members of the labor equality group, an affiliate of United Students Against Sweatshops, and the Purdue Alliance of Libertarian Socialists chose to raise the stakes, wagering their academics and their health, as they wait for the administration to reveal its cards. A few, including Franciose, have been starving themselves since November 17, although the bulk of strikers, said Alex Cheng, a senior, joined in November 25, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

A total of 30 different colleges have signed on to the spirit of the Designated Suppliers Program so far, and have pledged to attempt to implement it, said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a factory monitoring organization that counts 162 college members and has sponsored the DSP. Among those colleges that have endorsed the program are the institutions in the University of California system and Duke University.

Nova, who does not have any position on the Purdue hunger strike, said a task force of representatives from participating colleges is working to hammer out the details of the program. It would require that, after a three-year phase-in process, “licensees” that purchase apparel production rights from participating universities would receive 75 percent of their products from factories that pay their employees a living wage and recognize the right of their workers to unionize. The “crucial difference” between the DSP and the current codes in place, Nova said, is that for the first time, companies like Nike and Reebok would be required to pay their suppliers a price sufficient to ensure that the standards are met. A “modest” price increase of 1 to 6 percent would likely be passed along to consumers buying their favorite institution’s products in malls or college bookstores.

“Because the DSP, if it’s implemented, will go much further toward actually achieving good worker conditions in these factories than any previous program, I think it will have a profound impact on the broader industry, to demonstrate that better conditions can be achieved,” Nova said.