April 24, 2013

Adidas Agrees to Pay Severance to Workers

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After facing mounting pressure from numerous universities — including Cornell — German sportswear manufacturer Adidas has agreed to pay severance to 2,700 Indonesian factory workers, the Cornell Organization for Labor Action announced Wednesday.

After facing mounting pressure from numerous universities — including Cornell — German sportswear manufacturer Adidas has agreed to pay severance to 2,700 Indonesian factory workers, the Cornell Organization for Labor Action announced Wednesday.

This marks a significant policy change for Adidas, which previously had refused to pay $1.8 million in severance allegedly owed to the workers of the PT Kizone supplier factory under Indonesian Labor Laws, according to Karen Li ’15, a member of COLA.

“Adidas had been adamant about not talking to the union representing the workers, and we’re so happy that they’ve finally come to the table,” Li said.

Though the specifics of the settlement are still confidential, Li described it as “substantial” and said the union representing the workers “are very satisfied with the settlement.”

“This is a monumental victory,” Li said.

Workers at the factory, which created collegiate apparel, were laid off two years ago and denied severance, according to Li. In response, President David Skorton announced last October that Cornell would sever its business contracts with Adidas at the recommendation of the Cornell Licensing Oversight Committee, according to Li.

Cornell volunteers also successfully helped put pressure on administrators at other universities, according to Anna Barcy, member of United Students Against Sweatshops at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Cornell volunteers joined similarly minded students from across the Northeast for a weekend long “boot-camp” at Rutgers last November, according to Barcy.

“USAS works by coordinating nationally, and our strength comes in lending support to one another. Cornell volunteers, who had already successfully campaigned to have their university sever ties with Adidas, helped us with our campaign at Rutgers,” Barcy said.

Since then, 15 other universities, including the University of Washington, Georgetown University, Northeastern University, and Washington State University have joined Cornell in its decision to cut ties with Adidas, according to Li.

“As the first university to cut our contract with Adidas, we set an important precedent for other schools. The fact that Cornell University had severed its licensing agreement with Adidas over workers’ rights abuses put pressure on other schools to follow suit,” COLA member Molly Beckhardt ’14 said. “That said, other student labor action groups did a tremendous amount of work to get their universities to take a stand for workers’ rights. None of us could have done it without the support of other students at their respective universities.”

According to Barcy, the USAS has been instrumental in coordinating worker’s rights groups from different universities to combine their efforts to hold businesses accountable.

“We’re all across the country, working together as a nation-wide resource. We can lean on each other, and support each other’s efforts, and in that sense, we have an unseen power to make change,” Barcy said.

Adidas’ decision to compensate its workers may have long-lasting consequences beyond this specific instance, according to Li.

“It’s a major step to hold businesses accountable for breaking the law,” Li said.

Original Author: Christopher Yates