Rutgers Gets Green Light to Participate in Program to Increase Wages and Improve Working in Factories that Produce University-branded Apparel

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Four years after agreeing to take part in an innovative initiative to increase wages and improve working conditions in factories that produce collegiate apparel, Rutgers University can begin to plan implementation.   

This initiative, called the Designated Suppliers Program, will require businesses that sell Rutgers-branded apparel to obtain these products from factories that are in full compliance with a university-approved code of conduct.

The code of conduct is expected to require:

• Factories producing Rutgers apparel will pay a living wage to all workers.

• Licensees will pay a price to each factory sufficient to pay a living wage to all workers.

• At all designated factories, full freedom for all employees to join a union or other representative labor organization to help ensure acceptable working conditions.

Rutgers University will work on implementation of the program with the Worker Rights Consortium, an independent labor rights monitoring organization that conducts investigations of conditions in factories worldwide. Rutgers is a longtime member of the WRC, which was created in 2000 and includes on its governing board university administrators, students and labor rights experts. More than 175 colleges and universities are affiliated with the WRC.

The WRC, in turn, had been awaiting clearance to proceed with the program from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Clearance was required to ensure that collaboration between the WRC and member universities on this initiative would comply with federal antitrust laws.

“This is an important step in our efforts to use the leverage of the marketplace to improve working conditions around the world,” said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick. “It is not only possible, but also imperative, for colleges and universities to provide affordable apparel while eliminating sweatshop conditions from our supply chain.”

President McCormick pointed to Alta Gracia, an apparel manufacturer in the Dominican Republic that has worked with the WRC to develop strict labor standards – including paying its workers more than three times the standard industry wage. The prices of Alta Gracia-produced apparel are competitive because Alta Gracia takes a smaller profit than other manufacturers.

“We are proud that Rutgers-branded apparel is manufactured by Alta Gracia and sold in our bookstores,” McCormick said. “We look forward to a day when all university-branded items – and, ultimately, all manufactured goods – are produced in factories that appropriately pay and protect their workers.”

Added Marybeth Schmutz, assistant director, Rutgers Office of Trademark Licensing: “The Designated Suppliers Program will be phased in over a period of several years. This will allow companies that make collegiate apparel to implement the program without undue disruption to their supply chains or production schedules. We will work closely with the companies that produce Rutgers apparel to help ensure a smooth and successful implementation process.”

Established in 1766, Rutgers is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 58,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers is one of only two New Jersey institutions represented in the prestigious Association of American Universities.