UVA WRC

We, the Students, Faculty, Alumni, and Staff of the University of Virginia, believe that, as part of its effort to promote an ethical environment for education, it is essential that the University of Virginia carry on business dealings with only companies that purchase goods from factories that utilize fair and humane labor conditions. As the University is unable to monitor working conditions in factories within the U.S. and abroad, it is necessary that it work with a monitoring organization that is committed to effectively collecting and distributing information of this nature to relevant parties, including the brands, their subcontractors, and the University itself.

The University is currently in a contractual agreement with the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which attempts to perform such monitoring tasks. However, the FLA allows brand-name companies to participate in their actions and decision-making. Therefore, the organization cannot be trusted to make fully unbiased judgments about factory conditions, since these brands have a financial interest in keeping their costs low.

We therefore encourage the University to join the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent monitoring organization that is unaffected by business interests, and was created by college and university administrations, students, and labor rights experts. We understand that, instead of severing ties with businesses whose employees work in sub-standard labor conditions, the WRC has gained considerable leverage in pressuring these businesses to alter their unjust labor practices through its relationships with other universities. We feel that such a reputable and impartial effort is essential to assure that University merchandise is manufactured under fair labor conditions. We also believe the University should agree to pay one percent of its annual licensing revenue as a membership fee to the WRC, as we consider this price necessary and considerably affordable to upholding the ethical legacy of this educational establishment, as well as the healthy intellectual development of our students.