Students lie down, protest again for workers’ rights

The lifeless bodies strewn across the William Pitt Union on Wednesday were actually standing up. 

Ten students took to the ground for a second “die-in” protest by No Sweat: Pitt Coalition Against Sweatshops and Americans for Informed Democracy. Instead of staging a sit-in, the students lie down as if they were dead to represent the 1,129 workers who died when the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed last April. 

The groups are trying to persuade Pitt to require its licensees — anyone who produces Pitt apparel — to sign an accord so that Pitt apparel is not made in factories with unfair or dangerous working conditions. The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety will make corporations responsible for the workers in factories in Bangladesh.

Joe Thomas, co-founder of AID and No Sweat, said signing the accord is an important step for Pitt and that students have the power to change the apparel industry.

“We all wear Pitt apparel. We want to have Pitt pride, so we have to have pride in what we wear,” Thomas, and senior biology and political science major, said. 

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said in an email that “Pitt officials are considering this matter.”

“They are in the process of reviewing the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh with the Collegiate Licensing Company, which coordinates licensing agreements for Pitt with suppliers,” Fedele said in the email. “Students will be notified when a decision has been made.”

The first die-in protest last Wednesday included 25 students sitting on the floor of the Cathedral Commons area for about 20 minutes.

Erin Shields, a junior history and political science major, said AID decided to hold a second die-in because members didn’t feel that the first one gained the desired amount of attention because police officers asked the groups to not lay down during the first protest to avoid creating a tripping hazard. .

“We felt the memorial aspect of the process was lost in our inability to lie down,” Shields said.

“We are trying to improve the lives of workers overseas.”

Shields said AID has no current plans for future protests, but members of No Sweat and AID have taken other steps to ensure progress. 

Julie Radomski, AID vice president and senior economics and anthropology major, said leaders of No Sweat and AID had positive results after meeting with Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey, G. Reynolds Clark, vice chancellor for external relations, and Kenyon Bonner, director of student life and associate dean of students, – last Friday. Radomski said she felt good about the status of the accords. 

Radomski said the group decided to take the second die-in to the Union lawn because, as a student organization, No Sweat was unable to reserve the Cathedral Commons area. 

Kelly McNulty, a freshman urban studies major, said that she thinks the only way students can have truly “ethical clothes” is if they make them themselves but that the University can make a difference by requiring its apparel be made in safe environments as opposed to factories with dangerous conditions. 

“We can make workers’ on the other side of the world lives better, and why wouldn’t you?” McNulty said.

Thomas said ] most students from his experience are interested in helping the cause when informed about the issue of Pitt’s involvement with potentially unsafe garment factories. 

“I woke up and realized students do have power,” Thomas said.