Students

This year, ULU is running a student workers campaign to raise awareness of rights in the workplace and help working students organise. Come along to watch our first film and discuss the campaign.

What is No Sweat? We wrote these notes in reply to a college student in the USA asking us who we are and what we do. They are quite informal (and personal), but hopefully give a fair introduction!

Join workers and students demanding respect.

For over a decade, USAS members have fought alongside people working on our campuses to fight for living wages, affordable healthcare, and the right to organize unions free from intimidation. Over and over again, we see that when our universities contract work out to corporations like Sodexo -- the 22nd largest employer in the world -- workers are left with poverty wages, disrespect and fierce repression of their freedom to form unions. Now it is time, once again, to force our schools to take responsibility for their contractors' worker rights violations.

Take action at:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/tulane_loyola_strike

Following a large demonstration against the suspension of the Sussex 6, hundreds of students have staged a snap occupation in defiance of management and the state, following the granting of a High Court injunction banning ‘occupational protest.’

Dundee University students braved the cold today to strip off as part of an international campaign against sweatshops.
The students were taking part in the Buy Right Campaign, which proclaims, “We’d rather go naked than wear sweatshop clothes.”

http://defendsussex.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/occupation-statement-1/

We have occupied the top floor of Bramber House, University of Sussex, Brighton. There are 106 of us.

The decision to occupy has been taken after weeks of concerted campaigning during which the university management have repeatedly failed to take away the threat of compulsory redundancies and course cuts.

We recognise that an attack on education workers is an attack on us.

Hands Off the People of Iran held a speaking tour with Iranian students last year.

Torab Saleth (Workers Left Unity Iran) and Behrooz Karimizadeh and Kaveh Abbasian (Students for Freedom and Equality in Iran) addressed a meeting organised by the Kings’ College student society of ‘Hands Off the People of Iran’.

This short video should give you some background on the struggles and experiences of the students in Iran.

Update on the struggle of US students. From Inside Higher Ed (28 1 09)

March 10, 2008

On Saturday March 8th, York University President Mamdouh Shoukri made a commitment to introduce a No Sweat licensing policy at the university by April. This promise came in response to a 45 hour sit-in by York students, members of the Sustainable Purchasing Coalition (SPC), a student group lobbying to reform York licensing and purchasing policies to more sustainable standards. If this pledge goes through as promised, York will bring the number of Canadian Universities with No Sweat policies to 17.

Including speaker tours by New Zealand union organiser, Mike Treen, on organising drives among fast-food workers and a young French union activist, Axel Persson involved in organising similar groups in Paris... 11-18 February at a campus near you...
Latest tour details here... Plus briefing on the Supersize My Pay campaign...

NoSweat at Sheffield Uni has been working alongside the Polish Society...

The Sheffield University Workers' Rights Coalition - the network initiated by No Sweat members and campaigners from other activist societies to fight for workers' rights on campus - finished the academic year with a signal of intent as its supporters distributed bulletins to students and staff that gave the low-down on the info that the WRC had gathered through months of dialogue with non-academic workers...

Smith College has recently become another in a long line of universities that will no longer be selling Coca-Cola products anywhere on campus. Following a three year student campaign, the university finally agreed that, due to Coke's deplorable record of human rights violations around the world, they would have Coca-Cola permanently removed from their campus. Great job to all the students at Smith!

Read more to see their university statement.

With hundreds of supporters outside, 11 students occupyed the University President's office to demand Stanford goes sweat-free.

In rsponse the University sent in the police and had all 11 arrested. Read on for more information and to take action in support of the students.

No Sweat activists at the University of Sheffield have come together with campaigners from other groups and societies to launch the first 'living wage' campaign at a northern university.

The UK student group People and Planet have produced a bulletin for campaigners involved in FairTrade campaigning. The bulletin looks at cotton production and targets the Primark chain.
go here:
http://peopleandplanet.org/tradejustice/highcost
and open the document 'High Street - High Cost'

Also on this page: 'White gold, the true cost of cotton', a useful 48 page report by the Economic Justice Foundation

Sweatshops and Ethical Merchandise
An ordinary motion presented to a Union General Meeting on 27th February
2007
Proposed by Saffron Palmer
Seconded by Karen Lynch, Sophie Cartwright, Richard Byrne-Smith and Ric
Lander

THIS UNION NOTES
(i) That child labour, poverty wages, poor health and safety, forced
overtime, sexual abuse and violent harassment, especially against trade
unionists, have been revealed by reporters, trade unions and Government
investigators to be common features of sweatshop labour.
(ii) That many famous high street brands, including Nike, Gap, Adidas,

How to organise a living wage struggle on campus, May 06

This briefing was written by Jeremy Anderson from Queen Mary’s college, East London. Activists at QM ran a model campaign in 2005-6, which resulted in a victory: a substantial wage rise for low-paid workers on campus.
The aim of this guide is to present some ideas about how to start a campaign to stamp out low pay on campus. It is one aspect of the work needed to guarantee ‘sweat-free campuses’ in the UK.

The Guardian’s report of the struggle at QM is here: QM Campaign victory

How to organise a No Sweat/Fair Trade fashion show

By Jill Hall based on experience from Durham Uni Fairtrade Fashion Show

Things to think about:
ï‚· Sources of clothing
ï‚· Funding
ï‚· Steering Committee & Co-ordination of event
ï‚· Venue
ï‚· Sound/lighting/music/choreography
ï‚· Models
ï‚· Rehearsals and where you will rehearse
ï‚· Publicity (posters/tickets/press)
ï‚· Charge on the door
ï‚· Do you want a photographer? Would you like someone to video record it?
ï‚· What else would you like to happen at the show?

How to organise a living wage struggle on campus, May 06

This briefing was written by Jeremy Anderson from Queen Mary’s college, East London. Activists at QM ran a model campaign in 2005-6, which resulted in a victory: a substantial wage rise for low-paid workers on campus.
The aim of this guide is to present some ideas about how to start a campaign to stamp out low pay on campus. It is one aspect of the work needed to guarantee ‘sweat-free campuses’ in the UK.

The Guardian’s report of the struggle at QM is here: QM Campaign victory

The second annual anti-sweatshop week of action will take place on UK campuses from 12-18 February. It is backed by National NUS. Here's an appeal from the No Sweat collective...