All Of These Georgetown Students Have Strait A's

Students and factory workers demand that Georgetown University cut ties with Russell Athletic

by Ron Moore

Georgetown students (12) rallied Monday to calling on the school to cut ties with the apparel manufacturer that owns the Honduras factory which they say committed a series of labor rights violations. Two of the Honduran workers who make Georgetown University apparel joined the students in urging the university to refuse to partner with a company that abuses its workers. Moises Elias Montoya Alvarado is a sewing machine operator at (How did a sewing machine operator get to Washington D.C.?) Jerzees de Honduras and serves as president of the Sitrajerzeesh union and Norma Estela Mejia Castellanos is a sewing machine operator at Jerzees de Honduras and vice president of the Sitrajerzeesh union

“Georgetown must live up to its promises and end its contract with the Russell Corporation, a company which has committed appalling abuses—in violation of the university’s code of conduct—against the people who sew apparel with the university’s name on it,”

said Marley Moynahan, student organizer for Georgetown Solidarity Committee, an affiliate of the nationwide United Students Against Sweatshops.

The workers were fired from the factory, Jerzees de Honduras, after attempting to form a union; Russell later closed the factory altogether. The factory is owned by the Russell Corporation, a major licensee producing Georgetown logo apparel.

“We have been campaigning for a year and a half to end the abuses in our factory and ensure that we are treated with dignity and respect,” said Moises Elisias Montoya Alvarado, a sewing machine operator and worker leader at Jerzees de Honduras. “Because I have stood up for my rights and the rights of my coworkers, I have been the subject of violent retaliation, including death threats written on the factory walls and threatening notes left at my sewing machine. I came here today, together with these students, because Georgetown has the power to help put an end to the abuses and death threats that my coworkers and I face at home.”

The University of Miami, a major licensor of logo apparel, has already terminated its licensing agreement with Russell over the violations and other universities are considering similar moves.

Russell Corporation violated worker rights by firing over 140 workers for organizing a union, making statements that attributed the plant’s closure to unionization, and the closure decision itself, which was found to be driven by anti-union retaliation.

Closing a factory due, partially or wholly, to the formation of a union is a violation of Georgetown University’s codes of conduct for apparel production.

In response to these violations, a number of U.S. labor rights advocacy organizations have filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an agency of the Organization of Americas States, to take proactive measures to assure these worker leaders’ safety.

Link (here)

The Georgetown Code of Student Conduct (here)

Have any of these students violated the alcohol policy on page 11?

Have any of these students violated the drug policy on page 12?

Have any of these students violated the sexual misconduct policy found on page 17?

In fairness to all concerned, should not all the policies of Georgetown University be enforced?