Students Demand College-Logo Brands Join Fire and Safety Agreement

Students Demand College-Logo Brands Join Fire and Safety Agreement

Students Demand College-Logo Brands Join Fire and Safety Agreement

Three out of the four largest industrial disasters in the history of the garment industry have occurred in the past year alone.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

This week United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is holding demonstrations at more than thirty colleges and universities across the country as part of an International Week of Action to End Deathtraps commemorating the six-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh.

Students and workers are demanding that apparel brands who produce apparel for US universities sign on to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a legally binding agreement now signed by over 100 brands and retailers, promising greater protection for workers and a voice for unions in addressing deadly working conditions. To date, not a single college-producing apparel company has signed the agreement. Bangladeshi unions are also holding demonstrations at the site of Rana Plaza collapse.

“When a disaster like Rana Plaza happens it is important for us as students to remember the dead and fight with the living to ensure that apparel brands like VF Corporation and Adidas take responsibility for worker safety in their factories. These disasters are entirely preventable; it’s up to our university to require the brands we do business with to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord and end deathtrap factories in their supply chains,” said Katherine Corbit, a student at the University of Michigan.

Three out of the four largest industrial disasters in the history of the garment industry have occurred in the past year alone. Demonstrations this week are the latest in the “End Deathtraps” campaign spearheaded by United Students Against Sweatshops. USAS is holding die-ins, vigils, teach-ins and other demonstrations at colleges and universities across the United States, including New York University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University, Duke University, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, Syracuse University, and the University of Southern California.

Meanwhile, a minority of US brands and retailers led by Gap, Walmart, and the VF Corporation in July attempted an end-run around greater regulation when they unveiled a corporate-run safety scheme called the “Alliance for Worker Safety.” Students and labor unions have slammed the program for its exclusion of worker representatives and lack of legally enforceability.

Attention College Students: Get six months of The Nation's digital edition absolutely free!

“We will demand our universities terminate contracts with any college-logo brand that joins Gap and Walmart in playing public relations games with workers’ lives. The stakes are too high for our universities to stand on the sidelines—we must require brands like VF Corporation and Adidas to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord, ” said Caitlin MacLaren, a student at New York University.

USAS is now gearing up for the next phase of its campaign to publicly shame companies that refuse to address safety conncerns.

Jason Motlagh writes about the lack of compensation for the families of Rana Plaza victims. 

Can we count on you?

In the coming election, the fate of our democracy and fundamental civil rights are on the ballot. The conservative architects of Project 2025 are scheming to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision across all levels of government if he should win.

We’ve already seen events that fill us with both dread and cautious optimism—throughout it all, The Nation has been a bulwark against misinformation and an advocate for bold, principled perspectives. Our dedicated writers have sat down with Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders for interviews, unpacked the shallow right-wing populist appeals of J.D. Vance, and debated the pathway for a Democratic victory in November.

Stories like these and the one you just read are vital at this critical juncture in our country’s history. Now more than ever, we need clear-eyed and deeply reported independent journalism to make sense of the headlines and sort fact from fiction. Donate today and join our 160-year legacy of speaking truth to power and uplifting the voices of grassroots advocates.

Throughout 2024 and what is likely the defining election of our lifetimes, we need your support to continue publishing the insightful journalism you rely on.

Thank you,
The Editors of The Nation

Ad Policy
x