The Michigan Daily - Monday. August 14. 2000 - 3 ....... ,.... ..,. ..... ,J ,... Mw r .MbuU. , ..vvv v SOLE members protest Bollinger's decision y Sara Fedewa aily StaffReporter Amid chants of "Michigan is not for tie, worker's rights must prevail," a roup of studernts marched into the leming B (uildi tn Monday afternoon lea; Unicersits President Lee Ongera letter expressing their outrage ward his announcement that the niversity would join the Fair Labor ssociation on a provisional basis. "The FLA is one kind of organiza- an set up by the government in order bring together corporations, non- ofit organizations, activists and uni- rsities in order to address sweat- top issues," said Bryant Ison, rmem- er of the Presidents Advisory ommittee on Labor Standards and an Rights. ere are two components of address- g problems with sweatshops monitor- g and standards, Ison said. "The FLA doesn't impose a code, they onitor other codes," Ison said. Activists said they do not believe the LA is useful in improving standards and arker's conditions in sweatshops. "The FLA is a corporate dominated wr-up to make it look like they're something," said SOLE member :ott Trudeau, an LSA senior. Trudeau said the FLA has a weaker code, no mention of a living wage and does not guarantee workers the right to organize. According to Trudeau, the FLA also lacks power because the corporations are able to choose their own monitors and are able to filter through all of the iifirmIation and reports before they are released. Students opposed to the Universit 's involvement with the FLA also say they think universities in general lack power within the FLA, as 139 universities are forced to share a seat on a board of 14. University protesters were supported by a group of 10 students, members of United Students Against Sweatshops, who were making a 13-day pilgrimage to 10 cities across the United States in an effort to call attention to the anti-sweat- shop movement. The group decided to make a stop in Ann Arbor in an effort to support SOLE members in their protest against the University's involvement with the FLA. "It's a really crappy nove for U of M to make this decision in the summer when most of the involved students are not near campus," said Carrie Brunk, a student at Transylvania University in Kentucky. "We've come to let Bollinger know that evervone in the country is watching," said Cori Lowe, USAS coordinator and student at Middlebury College in Vermont. The USAS students along with the members i Sf'LE ate pruing for the right for swettsp woiker t organize. "The w r kris nted to tave the right to organize independent unions, because if they have the right and ability to organize for themselves, they will be the best advocates for their cause," said Roselio Reyes, a former sweatshop worker from the Dominican Republic and member of the Federation of Free Trade Zone Workers of the Dominican Republic. "The workers are fighting for better working conditions, higher salaries and social security and the best way for them to do that is to organize and bargain for themselves," Reves said. The protesters support the Workers Rights Consortium, with which the University is currently affiliated, because it includes a clause that pro- vides workers with the right to orga- nize. The FLA does not mention this right. "Workers need to be able to orga- nize and represent themselves," said Lowe, "No monitoring scheme is going to solve the problem of sweat- shops." Students marched through the Fleming Building last Monday In protest of University President Lee Bollinger's decision to join the FLA. recycling program aims to cut back student waste V Natalie Plosky ily Staff Reporter many students, August marks a time to c( ler twhat items need to be disposed of before its g out of an apartment or home. Often, reusa ins are thrown out with other waste. In att effort to redistribute these items to th' uld use them. a program sponsored by Recy in Arbor seeks to recover reusable items from s nts during rsoveout. The program. Green Moveout, is entering aith year in Ann Arbor. een Mov eout works twith local realty coral oa T reduce the amtount oftvaste resulting im mass Imie0Uts around the area. Durin a desietnated building's moveoIut ne. lar-gc yellow boxes will be placed >und the buildin. Students can put clothing, unopened food used toiletries. electronics, kitchen or ice supplies, and sports equipment in these xes. Large furniture can be amaned to be ked up bycallingRecvcle AnnArbor. The boxes till be collected and taken to A 's Re.se Cetelr. titi itd kichen furnishings will bei nated to PTO Thrift Shop, and food and opened toiletries will be donated to Food itherers. Remaining donations will be sorted and told to the community at low prices. cause RAA is a non-profit organization, aceeds from the sale ofthese items will go operating costs for RAA and to support- waste reduction and recycling efforts in immunity. arior to this year, University Towers was only property participating in the pro-i I. Because of the positive response from s property, Green Moveout coordinated 0ti- ble ose role tu- its pa- efforts with other realtors. Realty companies involved in this summer's Green Moveout include Campus Management, University Towers, and Michigan Realty. Adam Szuch, a marketing intern at RAA and coordinator of Green Moveout, said he hopes to expand the services of Green Moveout in the future. "tHopefilly, this year will go really well," Szuch said. "Oue goal is to expand to some other properties with the participating realtors and also recruit some other realtors on campus" In June of this year, the ReUse Center expanded into 20,000 square feet of warehouse space to accommodate its collections. At any given time, the warehouse holds 2500 cubic yards of usable items diverted from landfills. In an average week, over 100 cubic yards of items are sold at the ReUse Center. Anthony Visioni, an LSA sophomore who resides at a participating property of Green Moveout, expressed his support for the program. "I think it's a good idea," Visioni explained. "I'm probably going to ditch some of the stuff I have and give it to (Green Moveout). I always think it's good to recycle whden you can because it's no harder than throwing stuff out." The ReUse Center is open to the public to donate and to purchase items. Hours of operation for the RC are Monday through Friday from 10am-6pm and Saturday from 9am-5pm and it is located at 2420 South Industrial. Szuch also encouraged students to take advan- tage of the low prices at the RC to meet their own housing needs. "It's something that we feel can offer the college student with little money a lot," Szuch said. "Students can come here and outfit their entire home" For more information about the program, contact Adam Szuch at RAA at 662-6288, e-mail adam cgrecycleannarbor.org, or go to the Website at htjt://www'ureucm'cleanaroururg. ON APRIL 26TH, 2000, BETA THETA PI FRATERNITY HAD ski tci t hi HISTORICAL FRATERNITY ARTIFACTS STOLEN. $1,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO THE RECOVERY OF THE ARTIFACTS. REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO THE ARREST AND CONVICTION OF THE PERPETRATORS. CONTACT INFO: RAWLINS539@HOTMAIL.COM *NOTE, ANONYMOUS TIPS ARE APPRECIATED AS WELL THANK You ....