The University of Wisconsin-Madison gave up nearly $50,000 per year in revenue Friday by deciding not to renew its contract with Nike Inc. because of alleged human rights abuses overseas.  The University received annual royalties from the company because of its use of the University’s name, mascot and insignia. 

UW-Madison is the first in the country to cut ties with Nike over this issue, but sophomore Jonah Zinn said students are raising the stakes at other schools as well.

"There are student movements going on at about 20 other universities and the goal is to pick up the momentum,” said Zinn, a member of the Student Labor Action Coalition, an affiliate of UW-Madison’s United Students Against Sweatshops. “But in order to get that momentum going, it's important to take that first step -- and it's a huge deal that UW-Madison was the first university to cut the contract. We won't be the last, for sure."

School officials said the University had no choice but to cut ties with Nike after a report detailing human rights abuses by the company in Honduras.

The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) which inspects companies’ oversees practices stated that workers at two factories where Nike products were made, Hugger de Honduras and Vision Tex, did not receive severance pay when both factories closed.  In total, the WRC alleges that Nike owes the workers more than $2 million - or about 30 weeks of pay per person - in legally mandated severance.

"Nike has not developed, and does not intend to develop, meaningful ways of addressing the plight of displaced workers and their families in Honduras," UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin in a statement to the University’s Labor Licensing Policy Committee Friday.

"It has not presented clear long-range plans to prevent or respond to similar problems in the future. For this combination of reasons, we have decided to end our relationship for now."

The University’s relationship with Nike will officially end in late June, when the contract between the two parties expires.  The main argument for not renewing the contract is that Nike did not follow the University code of conduct for producers, which states that companies must pay legally mandated wages, among other stipulations.

Some at the school are hoping other universities will follow the UW.  A similar series of student campaigns and University decisions targeted Russell Athletic last year.  Ultimately, student activists persuaded another sportswear company, Russell Athletic, to rehire 1,200 workers after the factories were closed.  Nearly 100 colleges ended their deals with Russell during that campaign.

"The real difference here is that with the Russell contract, there were many, many other universities joining with us," said Collins. "And here, we are kind of out here on our own... So even though we are a small proportion of what Nike produces, I do think this will get Nike's attention. Even if no other schools join us, the publicity of Wisconsin doing this will matter."

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