SU support campaign for ethical merchandise
FOLLOWING OUR Stop the Sweat campaign, York University Student Union has suggested the introduction of a Code of Conduct in their recent merchandise report. This would mean that all clothing suppliers for the Union would have to meet certain ethical standards, including the provision of a living wage and reasonable working hours.
The report states that “a commitment to strive for workers producing anything for the Union to be in line with a suitable Code of Conduct where ever feasible is written into the proposed Ethical Marketing Policy. This would lay down how the Union expects it’s producers to be treated, and how futures trustees should behave if revelations come to light about any of our other brands.” nouse stressed in a previous report that, despite success in getting Colleges to boycott Fruit of the Loom, it was still important to campaign for a Code of Conduct. This would act as a preventative measure to ensure that the SU did not start using unethical suppliers in the future.
Following our last edition more societies are getting on board with our campaign. YSTV, one of the largest societies on campus, have chosen to use Pirhana for their clothing. Sarah Leese, Commercial Director of the station, commented: “I am in charge of ordering merchandise for the society. Having seen your campaign in nouse last term, I took this into consideration recently when organising this year’s t-shirts. “Fruit of the Loom is an option with Piranha, but they have so many suppliers and different styles of t-shirt that we were able to choose not to use Fruit of the Loom. Piranha had our order to us in just over a week and I would recommend the company to anyone.” Breakz society has also considered taking an ethical stance with their clothing provision.
A spokesperson for Breakz remarked, “We don’t currently buy clothing, though we are looking into it. It’s fair to say that, following your articles, we will be considering our suppliers carefully.” Although, nouse now have all the colleges and many societies on board with our campaign, the code of conduct will maintain the ethical merchandise standards for future students.
