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Fifth School Drops New Era As Bargaining Proposal Simmers
New Era Cap Co.’s image as a responsible American employer continues to erode as management considers the union’s latest proposal for a fair contract. Local 14177 has been on strike at New Era’s Derby, N.Y., plant since July 13, 2001.
In January, the Fair Labor Association, which monitors working conditions at members’ factories, took no action on New Era’s request for admission.
“This is a major blow to New Era Cap. The company’s failure to gain the FLA’s stamp of approval will mean that universities and retailers will continue to drop New Era as a supplier,” local Secretary Jason Kozlowski said. “Given New Era’s failure to address safety problems and negotiate fairly with its workers, it is no surprise that the FLA board took no action on New Era’s application.”
New Era makes caps under license for professional sports leagues and major universities.
The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., recently became the fifth school in the country to suspend its contract with New Era.
GW students brought the Derby situation to the administration’s attention last August after United Students Against Sweatshops investigated the company and branded it “a sweatshop employer.”
Students held a teach-in the first week of February with speakers from the AFL-CIO, Worker Rights Consortium and USAS, leafleted outside a Footlocker store, flew a banner from the student center and delivered a letter to the administration, demanding that GW suspend its contract with New Era, campus coordinator Allison Robbins said. While taking part in a national Day of Action Feb. 11, they learned the school agreed to join the boycott.
Elsewhere on the Day of Action, students at Indiana University in Bloomington wore t-shirts urging their school to cut off New Era and collected signatures on letters to the college president.
Students at the University of New York at Buffalo marched 40 strong to demand a meeting with their school’s president. Halfway across the campus, two plainclothes police officers told them the president would see two students if the others stayed behind. At the meeting, he pledged to talk to SUNY lawyers about whether New Era is violating the school’s code of conduct for manufacturers.
Students at other schools, including the University of Michigan, Loyola and Notre Dame, are also pressuring administrators to drop New Era contracts.
CWA and a coalition of student, community and workers’ rights organizations are planning to formally challenge New Era’s FLA application through a third-party complaint process before the board’s April 9 meeting.
On Feb. 1, CWA’s bargaining team presented a detailed counterproposal to New Era’s performance quota system, a key issue in the dispute.
“We feel it could lead to a contract our members could ratify,” said Dave Palmer, CWA’s upstate New York/New England director.
“We could continue our campaign, but it’s in the interest of both parties to settle. Making that college work disappear forever would not be in our members’ or the company’s best interest,” he said.
Another bargaining session was scheduled as the CWA News went to press.
Local President Jane Howald said the resolve of her members to continue the strike has been so strong that the local had to force them to come off the picket line and work at the union hall when the wind chill recently dropped below zero.
“These people are in it for the long haul,” Howald said. “They’ll get a second or part-time job if need be, to make ends meet. There’s no question of anybody breaking.”
In January, the Fair Labor Association, which monitors working conditions at members’ factories, took no action on New Era’s request for admission.
“This is a major blow to New Era Cap. The company’s failure to gain the FLA’s stamp of approval will mean that universities and retailers will continue to drop New Era as a supplier,” local Secretary Jason Kozlowski said. “Given New Era’s failure to address safety problems and negotiate fairly with its workers, it is no surprise that the FLA board took no action on New Era’s application.”
New Era makes caps under license for professional sports leagues and major universities.
The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., recently became the fifth school in the country to suspend its contract with New Era.
GW students brought the Derby situation to the administration’s attention last August after United Students Against Sweatshops investigated the company and branded it “a sweatshop employer.”
Students held a teach-in the first week of February with speakers from the AFL-CIO, Worker Rights Consortium and USAS, leafleted outside a Footlocker store, flew a banner from the student center and delivered a letter to the administration, demanding that GW suspend its contract with New Era, campus coordinator Allison Robbins said. While taking part in a national Day of Action Feb. 11, they learned the school agreed to join the boycott.
Elsewhere on the Day of Action, students at Indiana University in Bloomington wore t-shirts urging their school to cut off New Era and collected signatures on letters to the college president.
Students at the University of New York at Buffalo marched 40 strong to demand a meeting with their school’s president. Halfway across the campus, two plainclothes police officers told them the president would see two students if the others stayed behind. At the meeting, he pledged to talk to SUNY lawyers about whether New Era is violating the school’s code of conduct for manufacturers.
Students at other schools, including the University of Michigan, Loyola and Notre Dame, are also pressuring administrators to drop New Era contracts.
CWA and a coalition of student, community and workers’ rights organizations are planning to formally challenge New Era’s FLA application through a third-party complaint process before the board’s April 9 meeting.
On Feb. 1, CWA’s bargaining team presented a detailed counterproposal to New Era’s performance quota system, a key issue in the dispute.
“We feel it could lead to a contract our members could ratify,” said Dave Palmer, CWA’s upstate New York/New England director.
“We could continue our campaign, but it’s in the interest of both parties to settle. Making that college work disappear forever would not be in our members’ or the company’s best interest,” he said.
Another bargaining session was scheduled as the CWA News went to press.
Local President Jane Howald said the resolve of her members to continue the strike has been so strong that the local had to force them to come off the picket line and work at the union hall when the wind chill recently dropped below zero.
“These people are in it for the long haul,” Howald said. “They’ll get a second or part-time job if need be, to make ends meet. There’s no question of anybody breaking.”