VICTORY! - UWM signs DSP!

This morning, UWM Vice Chancellor Tom Luljak mailed a letter to the Worker Rights Consortium, pledging to participate in the Designated Suppliers Program, a set of standards which intends to guarantee living wages and the right to organize to the garment workers who make university apparel. Luljak’s letter was the culmination of over two years of student organizing, and it made the UWM the 46th university to sign such a pledge.

Getting UWM signed on to the program was one of the initial projects adopted by the Milwaukee SDS when it formed in Fall of 2006. Since then, SDS members have met with reluctant administrators, organized petition drives, held protest rallies, and chalked the sidewalks of the campus on an almost weekly basis – even in freezing weather.

In the last several months, SDS was joined by Trafficking Ends with Action, mNSC, and other campus and community organizations to form the Sweat-Free UWM Coalition. The coalition’s efforts have included hosting a traveling workers’ tour, planning a sweat-free fashion show for April 8, and this week’s “week of actions,” which included a sweatshop clothesline display and a student/labor rally.

The rally, held today outside of the chancellor’s office, was initially expected to be a protest. However, after Luljak called group members promising to sign the DSP pledge, Sweat-Free UWM turned the event into a celebration.

Members of Milwaukee IWW, the SEIU, SUFRIR, and 9 to 5 joined Luljak, bookstore director Erik Hemming, and student activists in celebrating the victory, while also focusing on the many battles ahead, which include Milwaukee’s Paid Sick Days initiative, the DREAM Act, and Employee Free Choice Act.