Cornell University recently became the 15th U.S. college to drop its contract with JanSport after the manufacturer’s parent company refused to guarantee improved worker safety in Bangladesh.

The five-year, legally binding Accord on Worker Safety was created in the spring of 2013, after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh killed 1,129 workers and injured more than 2,000. VF Corporation, which owns JanSport, has refused to sign and, as a result, schools from Arizona State University to Pennsylvania State University have terminated their contracts with VF brands like JanSport and North Face.

One of the points entailed in the accord is a worker safety contract, said Michael Ferrer, the student leader of the Cornell Organization for Labor Action, a branch of United Students Against Sweatshops.

“[The accord] is a legally binding contract for worker safety and it has an independent system of monitoring and specifically that it works with NGOs and unions,” Ferrer said.

As of last winter, the Cornell administration stated that it would uphold its relationship with JanSport since JanSport itself does not operate out of Bangladesh.

But students from COLA and other groups protested that decision, since JanSport profits still go to VF, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. On April 23, students hung a banner of T-shirts covered with signatures near the school’s store, and delivered the unconventional petition to President David Skorton’s office.

In May, the Cornell administration stated that if VF did not sign the accord by Sept. 30, it would cut ties with JanSport, a decision that went into effect Oct. 16.

“The sheer size of VF’s presence and influence in Bangladesh behooves the company to support all initiatives designed to improve worker and factory safety in that country,” Cornell’s president, David Skorton, wrote in an email to VF that was quoted in Cornell’s news release on the issue.

“Although VF and JanSport are separate business entities, VF’s practices regarding labor compliance and practices govern all production globally and are applied to all VF subsidiaries,” Skorton said.

Ferrer said student pressure was one factor that helped the administration to conclude that JanSport, while technically separate from VF, was for all intents and purposes ethically the same. “I think ultimately student voices became louder and louder on the issue,” he said.

Ferrer said COLA is working with the general manager of the Cornell Store to find a company to replace JanSport in manufacturing Cornell merchandise. “There’re actually a number of brands that are starting to make sweatshirts and backpacks that are similar to JanSport’s style,” he said, due to the many schools that have cut ties with the company.

“The Cornell Store supports the university’s commitment to the issues surrounding worker and factory safety in Bangladesh and around the world,” James Best, the Cornell Store’s general merchandise manager, said in an email from the administration. “The store works with a large pool of vendors to offer top-quality apparel and backpacks.”

Ferrer said college students should be aware of whether their university’s apparel was manufactured ethically.

“I don’t know that there’s a university student without some sort of logoed apparel or a backpack or some sort of item that has been produced with their university logo on it,” he said, adding that students have a certain responsibility to know how the clothes on their backs were produced.

“But I think the bigger issue is that college students should care about the dignity of the workers at their university. Ultimately, that’s what all of our campaigns come down to.”

Published on October 30, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Maggie: mmcregan@syr.edu