Victory for students and workers in Florida! Today we are happy to announce that the University of South Florida has committed to affiliating with the Worker Rights Consortium! This comes after a year of actions like letter drops, banner drops, fax-ins and study in’s urging USF administration to meet with students about putting workers lives above profit. Because USF prides itself on being a diverse and globally aware institution, WRC affiliation was the logical decision to make. In light of Nike’s latest move to bar independent monitors from it’s subcontracted workers around the world, we were determined to ensure USF apparel would be sweat-free by joining the ranks of over 180 universities proudly affiliated with the Workers Rights Consortium.
It was not easy. Despite threats from our administration, we did not give up.
Amanda Hlavac, a junior at USF, has been with the campaign since the start. She reflected on how powerful it is that, “Everything we’ve done has actually created change, and…student power actually gets shit done.
This victory comes at a time when workers rights are under attack in the United States and abroad. While we are really ecstatic about this victory, we know the fight does not end here. We will continue to organize in solidarity with workers to ensure that workplace violations are not occurring.
“I can graduate knowing that my university is in a better position than when I started here,” said Samantha May.
You’ve been with this campaign since the beginning. How do you feel now that we’ve won?
“Well honestly I feel really relieved. The first thing I think is that it’s about time. The fact that the university actually took the time to look into it and affiliate means way more than anything else that I’ve done as a student. The fact that everything we’ve done has actually created change, and the fact that student power actually gets shit done. When I came here I didn’t really know what to find. I just wanted to find an organization where I could make an impact, and USAS gave me that.”” -AJ Hlavac, junior
