In an agreement whose focus was not just financial gain, but also human rights, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Nike sportswear company collaborated last week on an eight-year merchandising agreement worth $28 million.
Under the agreement, Nike agreed to an anti-sweatshop labor code that applies to uniforms and other merchandise with UNC's logo.
According to the code, workers are to be treated by the internationally recognized labor codes of child labor laws, nondiscrimination and creating a safe environment for the workers, said Scott J. Nova, the executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium at UNC.
Steve Kirchner, spokesman for the UNC athletic department said he found the agreement important for several reasons. It is financially feasible, socially responsible and helps UNC continue with a good partnership with Nike, he said.
Through the agreement with Nike, UNC will receive $18 million in uniforms, equipment and shoes for the next eight years.
New negotiations with Nike became necessary when students, faculty and the athletic director expressed concern about the treatment of foreign laborers producing UNC merchandise.
In 1997, a group of 19 students, professors and athletics personnel formed a labor advisory board which tried to make sure that the internationally recognized labor codes were "binding to Nike," Nova said. The committee drafted an anti-sweatshop labor code to be upheld by those manufacturing UNC products.
As a part of the deal, UNC will receive a 10 percent roalty on all of its wholesale-priced merchancdise sold, not the 8 percent it took in under the previous contract. In the past three years, UNC gained $539,000 per year from these sales. UNC used 75 percent of the revenue for general scholarship funds and the rest went to the school's athletic department.
Tufts, Nova and Kischner agreed that UNC should not just stop at regulating labor codes for athletic uniforms. According to Kirschner, what makes this agreement so unique is that UNC will raise the standards for the production of all of its uniforms.
The University also has a liscencing agreement with Nike, thogh only for football-related merchandise. No University officials could be reached to confirm whether or not the University has a similar clause in its contract with Nike.
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