The Eastern Michigan University student organization Students for an Ethical Participatory Education have demanded that EMU sever its contract with Adidas unless its workers in Indonesia were paid $1.8 million. SEPE delivered a letter to EMU President Susan Martin’s office Oct. 18, but members of the organization said they still have not received a reply.
The letter said, “The Workers Rights Consortium reported over a year and a half ago that the PT Kizone factory in Indonesia shut down abruptly after its owner fled the country, failing to pay 2,800 workers at least $3.3 million in legally mandated severance—nearly a year’s wages.”
SEPE said the PT Kizone factory produced university logo goods for Adidas, Nike and the Dallas Cowboys. The letter also said the workers were paid 60 cents an hour on average, and Adidas is the only brand that has still refused to pay the workers the monies entitled to them.
EMU sophomore and SEPE member David Chapman said the main intent of the group’s letter was to shed light on the “unethical situations of sweatshops that are contracted by Adidas.”
The letter urges EMU to follow in Cornell University and Oberlin College’s footsteps, who both recently cut ties with Adidas over the brand’s refusal to pay severance.
In a press release, Cornell President David Skorton said, “Having followed with great concern the severance issues surrounding the closure of the PT Kizone factory in Indonesia in September 2010, and reviewed Adidas’s position on its severance responsibilities, as well as reviewed the findings of the Worker Rights Consortium, I am writing to inform you that Cornell University is severing its business relationship with Adidas effective immediately.”
SEPE member and EMU senior Josiah Seng said if continued efforts go unnoticed by Martin, the group would find more “vibrant” ways to get her attention.
“Disaffiliation is a major issue with a lot of universities at the moment, but it’s not our only cause,” he said.
Seng said SEPE’s goal is to unify and empower students through democratic practice on campus and in the community.
Leading SEPE member Ashley Attar reiterated that sentiment.
“Our main goal is to just come together and support one another through mobility around causes and issues we all feel strongly about as students,” Attar said.
SEPE has over a dozen active members at EMU, and is a supporter and affiliate of United Students Against Sweatshops.
SEPE meets every Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. in Halle Library, room 320.
