Factory Access for University Monitors

December 22, 2016

Dear Colleagues,

Brief update on the Nike/factory access issue. We recently learned that Nike is proposing new licensing contract language to some universities, in the context of the renewal of licensing agreements expiring this month, and we’ve had the chance to assess the implications of this language. Many universities’ licensing agreements – for example, those that reference the CLC standards or the CLC Special Agreement – give the university the right to select its own monitoring agents and to inspect licensees’ factories using those agents. As we understand Nike’s proposal, it would have the effect of eliminating these rights, representing a significant policy change on this issue for many schools. Our information is limited – we don’t know, for example, which schools are getting this proposal or if different schools may be receiving different proposed language. However, given the importance of the issue, and given that the proposed language could conflict with universities’ existing labor rights policies, particularly as they relate to the factory access issue, we wanted to make affiliates aware of our assessment.

Happy to discuss, as always.

Best,

Scott

Scott Nova
Executive Director
Worker Rights Consortium
[email protected]