Penn State has placed controversial apparel supplier Russell Athletic on probation, several university officials said Wednesday.
Russell, a supplier of licensed apparel to Penn State and other universities, is currently in the midst of a workers' rights controversy after closing its 1,800-worker Jerzees de Honduras plant.
"We made a decision several weeks ago to put Russell on probation. We informed them more recently of our deadline for addressing issues that have been identified and for answering questions we posed to them," Penn State President Graham Spanier wrote in an e-mail. "Their response will determine whether
we renew our relationship with them."
Both the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) released reports regarding the closure of the factory. The FLA report concluded the closure was primarily because of economic factors, while the WRC report found the closure stemmed mostly from the factory workers' attempt to unionize.
Because of the disparity, Penn State made the decision to place Russell on probation.
"We are also aware of labor-management conflicts at the facility," Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said. "We sent a letter to Russell about our concerns with the findings."
The letter, dated Feb. 2, requests that Russell comply with the 10 remedial steps in the FLA report. Those steps include assisting workers in finding employment in the area and encouraging other plant managers to hire workers from Jerzees de Honduras.
"We would like a written timeline for completing these measures, as well as any additional systems you plan to put in place to ensure that Penn State's Code of Conduct is upheld by March 1, 2009," the letter to Russell reads. "Penn State will conduct a special review of Russell's license at renewal this year that will require a detailed overview of your commitment to corporate social responsibility."
To her knowledge, Powers said Russell had not yet responded.
The letter is addressed to Rick Medlin, executive vice president of Fruit of the Loom, which owns Russell Athletic. Maureen Riedel, Penn State's director for trademark licensing, signed the document.
Riedel could not be immediately reached for comment.
Meg Quinn, Student Labor Action Project president and a member of United Students Against Sweatshops, compared the university's letter with its recent decision to sign on to the Above & Beyond program with Knights Apparel.
"It's nice that they did some action; it's a good first step," she said. "But we should be going forward. The 10 steps ... are pretty much meaningless."
Several other major universities have cut their ties with Russell in recent weeks in light of the situation in Honduras, including the University of Wisconsin, Rutgers University and Georgetown University. Quinn praised those schools for their swift action.
"It's pretty fantastic, actually, that they're actually taking a strong stance on workers' rights by refusing to associate with a company that shows no regard for them," she said.
