Directs the state university trustees to promulgate and enforce a sweat-free code of conduct for the licensing and purchase of apparel at colleges and universities of the state university; requires provision in contracts with apparel manufacturers providing for the termination thereof if the manufacturer uses a sweatshop; requires that at least one member of the special task force on the apparel industry be a representative of the state university of New York.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3351
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 1, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sens. HASSELL-THOMPSON, KRUEGER, MONTGOMERY, PARKER,
STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a sweat-
free code of conduct for apparel licensed by the colleges and univer-
sities of the state university; and to amend the labor law, in
relation to the special task force for the apparel industry
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "ethical business conduct in higher education act".
3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that the state
4 university of New York has not responded to decades old requests that
5 its campuses disaffiliate their business relationships with sweatshops
6 in the production and licensing of campus apparel. It is now clear that
7 voluntary action by each campus is no longer an option and that the time
8 has come to require a system-wide set of rules and regulations be put in
9 place by the chancellor and board of trustees of the state university of
10 New York.
11 For years, lawmakers, religious and labor groups have criticized state
12 university campus' affiliations with apparel manufacturers who are
13 indifferent to the fact that workers making university apparel face
14 abusive treatment, excessive working hours, dangerous conditions and
15 wages that are inadequate to meet basic needs.
16 There continues to be a strong demand that all state university
17 campuses diligently adopt sweat-free standards in the purchase of
18 athletic apparel and in the licensing of campus merchandise. Advocates
19 on behalf of working people deplore the repression and exploitation of
20 apparel workers in Latin America and elsewhere in the world. The univer-
21 sities and colleges of the state university of New York should be a
22 model for ethical business conduct, both for their students and the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06478-01-3
S. 3351 2
1 broader public. It is past time for the state university system adminis-
2 tration and all its campuses to affiliate with the sweat-free and worker
3 rights work of the Worker Rights Consortium and the Designated Supplier
4 Program and end their business relationships that are de facto support
5 for sweatshop conditions.
6 Presently 60 of the 64 state university campuses have failed to take
7 the example or lead of the universities at Albany and Buffalo, which
8 have adopted the Designated Supplier Program, and the colleges at New
9 Paltz and Cortland, all four of which have affiliated with the Worker
10 Rights Consortium to ensure sweat-free manufacturing.
11 It is obvious that where there has been strong leadership and commit-
12 ment to protecting worker rights this issue has been resolved. However,
13 we cannot wait indefinitely for the other 60 campuses to engage in
14 ethical business behavior that demonstrates our national respect for
15 human rights, worker rights and anti-child labor rights.
16 It is well understood by organized labor, religious organizations and
17 social justice groups that the apparel industry continues to operate
18 under a paradigm of cost-cutting without respect to human consequence,
19 the tragic results of which are the sweatshop conditions that plague the
20 supply chains of university licensed apparel. All state university
21 campuses that have not already done so must adopt sweat-free codes of
22 conduct to which apparel manufacturers producing university apparel must
23 adhere.
24 It is the finding of the legislature that in order to comprehensively
25 remedy this situation it must be required that the state university
26 administration put in place strict policies for all its campuses with
27 regard to how their apparel is manufactured. It is unacceptable that
28 after all the years of calls to end such practices, campus administra-
29 tors continue to ignore the violations of human rights that take place
30 in order for their campus apparel to be manufactured and sold.
31 § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 361 to read
32 as follows:
33 § 361. Sweat-free code of conduct. 1. The chancellor of the state
34 university shall, on or before January thirty-first, two thousand four-
35 teen, develop and draft a sweat-free code of conduct for the purchase
36 and licensing of apparel by state-operated institutions. Such code, to
37 the extent practicable, shall meet or exceed the labor standards, and
38 business and factory disclosure requirements enumerated in Worker Rights
39 Consortium's Model Code of Conduct. The code shall require each state-
40 operated institution to affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium and
41 participate in the Designated Supplier Program for the purpose of effec-
42 tively enforcing the provisions of such code. Furthermore, the sweat-
43 free code of conduct shall provide that every contract between a state-
44 operated institution and any apparel manufacturer shall include a
45 provision providing for the termination and nullification of such
46 contract upon any finding of a violation of the sweat-free code of
47 conduct in facilities that such manufacturer operates or from whom such
48 manufacturer purchases products. Such code of conduct shall provide
49 that notice of any such violation may be provided by the Worker Rights
50 Consortium. The sweat-free code of conduct shall provide for a remedi-
51 ation process whereby any such manufacturer may be granted the opportu-
52 nity to take corrective action prior to contract termination. Such reme-
53 diation process, to the extent practicable, shall reflect the process
54 described in the Model Code of Conduct of the Worker Rights Consortium.
55 2. Such chancellor shall, on or before January thirty-first, two thou-
56 sand fourteen, submit to the state university trustees the code of
S. 3351 3
1 conduct developed and drafted pursuant to subdivision one of this
2 section. Such code of conduct shall be adopted by the state university
3 trustees on or before March thirtieth, two thousand fourteen, as rules
4 and regulations applicable to all state-operated institutions. Such
5 rules and regulations shall include provisions for the enforcement ther-
6 eof to ensure full compliance therewith by state operated institutions.
7 3. On or before September first, two thousand fourteen, the chancellor
8 of the state university shall submit a preliminary report to the gover-
9 nor and the legislature which shall include a list of the state-operated
10 institutions which have come into compliance with the sweat-free code of
11 conduct, and when any purchasing and licensing agreements with apparel
12 manufacturers which have failed to comply with the provisions of such
13 code of conduct, will expire. Such preliminary report shall include a
14 list of each state-operated institution that has affiliated with the
15 Worker Rights Consortium and participates in the Designated Supplier
16 Program.
17 4. The chancellor of the state university shall, on or before January
18 thirty-first, two thousand fifteen, submit a final report to the gover-
19 nor and the legislature which shall include a list of the state-operated
20 institutions which have come into compliance with the sweat-free code of
21 conduct, a list of each state-operated institution that has affiliated
22 with the Worker Rights Consortium and participates in the Designated
23 Supplier Program, and when any purchasing and licensing agreements with
24 apparel manufacturers which have failed to comply with the provisions of
25 such code of conduct, will expire.
26 5. The chief executive officer of each state-operated institution
27 which has failed to comply with the code of conduct or affiliate with
28 the Worker Rights Consortium and participate in the Designated Supplier
29 Program on or before March first, two thousand fifteen, shall submit, by
30 first class mail, to the governor, each member of the legislature and
31 each member of the state university trustees a detailed explanation of
32 the delay in compliance and/or affiliation, and when full compliance,
33 affiliation and/or participation will be completed.
34 6. On or before September first, two thousand fifteen, the state
35 university trustees shall report to the governor and the legislature on
36 the actions that have been taken to enforce compliance with the
37 provisions of the code of conduct.
38 7. No provision of this section, or any rule, regulation or code of
39 conduct adopted pursuant thereto, shall be deemed to establish any power
40 or duty in violation of any federal law, rule or regulation.
41 § 4. The opening paragraph of section 342 of the labor law, as amended
42 by chapter 41 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as follows:
43 The commissioner is authorized to establish a special task force for
44 the purpose of concentrating enforcement of the labor law affecting
45 production employees in the apparel industry in New York state and
46 otherwise exercising the duties and powers set forth in sections three
47 hundred forty-three and three hundred forty-four of this article. Not
48 less than one member of such task force shall be a representative of the
49 state university of New York. Such special task force shall be empowered
50 to investigate and conduct inspections at locations where an apparel
51 industry contractor is operating.
52 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
