Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

This letter is in response to inquiries by your Administration to clarify the requests I made in my March 24 letter. In that letter, I requested that you work with students to ensure that apparel and other items bearing the logo of their colleges and universities are not made under sweatshop conditions. I also expressed concerns with college and university participation in the Fair Labor Association (FLA).

Again, I would like to recognize your Administration's efforts against sweatshops, including your efforts to bring together a diverse coalition of interests under the Apparel Industry Partnership.

To clarify my request in my March 24 letter, I would like to reiterate my belief that students have played and continue to play a critical role in the anti-sweatshop movement. Not only do students have deeply held beliefs about fairness, about work, and about the future of their country and the world, they also have a direct stake in the university merchandise business. It is the students, the alumni and their families who are the primary consumers of university and college merchandise. Their views should be given prominent attention in determining university policy in this area. If colleges and universities join the FLA, student and school concerns should be given strong consideration.

In accordance with the primary role students have taken in the effort to reform university licencing agreements, I respectfully request that you take the following steps.

1) Ensure that colleges and universities have full autonomy to amend (not just recommend changes to) the FLA so that schools can uphold their own codes of conduct which were forged with student participation.

2) Ensure student representation in the autonomous role colleges and universities are given in the FLA.

3) Encourage the FLA to acknowledge that the legitimate demands students are making are part of the ongoing effort to improve labor standards. Students across the country have raised a number if important issues, such as the need for full public disclosure of factory locations and monitoring reports, payment of a livable wage, improved handling of reported violations from outside groups, transparent and credible monitoring, and university selection of independent monitors and factories to be monitored.

4) Offer to meet with leaders of the student anti-sweatshop movement such as the United Students Against Sweatshops.

I understand that the FLA has many actors and that you cannot unilaterally make changes to it. However, your leadership now is critical to ensure that the anti-sweatshop movement continues as a united effort involving all sectors of our society, including highly motivated and dedicated students.

Thank you very much for your support.

Sincerely,

GEORGE MILLER
Member of Congress