Luther joins Russell boycott

Athletic apparel around Luther will soon sport new tags as the college enacts a campus-wide boycott of its previous main supplier, Russell Athletic. Luther decided to endorse the boycott after allegations surfaced concerning workers’ rights violations at Russell’s Honduras factories.

Administrators believe the boycott is in accordance with the college’s values, especially in light of Luther’s support of the Workers Rights Consortium, the watchdog group that initiated the boycott.

“I’ve been very supportive of [the boycott].” Vice-president for Finance and Administration Diane Tacke said. “If we are going to join the WRC and commit to its goals and missions, then I think it’s very important that we . . . take a stand.”

Luther’s Administration works very closely with the student group Students Encouraging Economic Development through Solidarity (SEEDS) to co-sponsor membership in
the WRC.

SEEDS is the Luther student association that worked to bring Luther to join the WRC. Last spring, some SEEDS members attended a conference in which problems with Russell Athletic were addressed.

In February 2009, Russell Athletic closed their factory in Jerzees de Honduras leaving 1,800 workers jobless. The Russell Corporation claimed they had closed that factory for economic reasons. However, the WRC contends that this particular factory was closed because of the creation of a workers’ union.

SEEDS co-leader Killey Rose (‘10) said, “It just interesting that, of all the factories that they could have closed down, they only closed that one where people started voicing their right for being united.”

The bookstore stopped ordering from Russell Athletic last spring.

“You never like doing this sort of thing.” Director of the Book Shop Jim Haemker said. “It was a difficult decision. The Book Shop was in the forefront of this. Luther is a part of the WRC so the decision came down that we should listen to their recommendations, and it’s something that we are supportive of.”

SEEDS came to an agreement with the bookstore and allowed them to sell all the Russell items they had in stock. However, the bookstore had a misunderstanding with a provider during Homecoming weekend and they received an order of Fruit of the Loom, a subsidiary of Russell, T-shirts.

“That was a very unfortunate thing that happened and it will not happen again from the manufacturer,” Haemker said.

Another important buyer is the Athletic Department.

“Right now the biggest concern that the Athletic Department has is that, in the past, from a financial stand point, Russell athletics has been the best provider.” Tacke said.

The Athletic Department is facing a challenge to buy new uniforms. The price increase due to the boycott was not taken in consideration, and consequently budgets may fall a bit short.

According to Vice-president for Student Life Anne Highum, one sports team is facing a budget defecit of $1,500.

“They are trying to work with the company that provides the uniforms to see if there’s another manufacturer that they can get some kind of discount with,” Highum said.

The bookstore will also be facing some consequences although, according to Haemker and Tacke, it is still too early to give a dollar figure.

“Whenever you lose a national brand like that, and you lose some product that is not offered by other manufacturers, and so you lose a nitch of your market,” Haemker said. “There’s a potential for monetary loss for the institution.”

SEEDS members are very concerned about the situation of the workers’ rights and are determined to fight until they can clarify what really happened with the closing of the factory in Honduras.

“I think that Luther has made a commitment to consuming goods that are produced in ethical ways and I think that if we don’t hold ourselves to some standards regarding that, we lose any semblance of morality, any semblance of an ethical institution,” co-leader of SEEDS Chris Bartels (’10) said.

Conscious of its possible monetary losses, Luther’s administration is trying to support the WRC’s battle against Russell.

“Whenever you look at a boycott you wonder whether it’s going to affect the change that you want to see, and you never really know if it does or not,” Highum said. “But, I do know that the WRC has definitely gotten the attention of the Russell Corporation, that Russell is very concerned, that they say they are drafting the things that need to be changed, and they say that they didn’t close the plant because of the reasons alleged and I think that they are working hard to regain the trust of the colleges and universities and it will be an economic impact on them.”