[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3755 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3755

    To express the Sense of Congress that American universities and 
colleges should adopt rigorous educational merchandise licensing codes 
 of conduct against sweatshop and child labor for merchandise licensed 
                    under their names or insignias.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 29, 1998

 Mr. Miller of California (for himself, Mr. Gephardt, Mr. Smith of New 
Jersey, Mr. Bonior, Mr. Clay, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Sanders, 
Mr. Schumer, and Mr. Kennedy of Massachusetts) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To express the Sense of Congress that American universities and 
colleges should adopt rigorous educational merchandise licensing codes 
 of conduct against sweatshop and child labor for merchandise licensed 
                    under their names or insignias.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. EDUCATIONAL MERCHANDISE LICENSING CODES OF CONDUCT.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that American colleges and 
universities should take into account the following in managing the 
licensing of merchandise bearing the names or insignia of educational 
institutions:
            (1) American workers have the right to a fair and safe 
        workplace and to reasonable compensation under the law, such as 
        under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor 
        Relations Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
            (2) Despite United States workplace laws, sweatshops and 
        other forms of labor exploitation persist domestically. The 
        Department of Labor has recovered $23,100,000 in illegally held 
        back wages for over 45,000 garment workers since 1993, 
        including $2,900,000 in back wages in 1997 alone. In 1997, 63 
        percent of the New York City garment shops investigated by the 
        Department of Labor were found in violation of the minimum wage 
        and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. And, a 
        recent study commissioned by the Associated Press found that 
        13,000 children work in sweatshops in the United States.
            (3) The use of sweatshop and child labor abroad for goods 
        imported to the United States remains a problem, particularly 
        in the apparel and sporting goods sectors, including the use of 
        subminimum wages, bonded and indentured labor, and unhealthy 
        working conditions. The International Labor Organization 
        estimated there are 250,000,000 underage children working 
        worldwide, in all sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, 
        services and manufacturing for domestically consumed and 
        exported items.
            (4) Federal law, including the Trade Act of 1930, bans the 
        importation of products made with indentured servitude, forced 
        or slave labor into the United States.
            (5) Codes of Conduct are voluntary steps taken by the 
        private sector.
            (6) Rigorous codes of conduct are an important component of 
        a larger set of tools to reduce sweatshop and child labor.
            (7) The Apparel Industry Partnership, comprised of major 
        retail companies, human rights groups and labor unions, is 
        seeking agreement on a code of conduct to reduce the use of 
        sweatshops and child labor.
            (8) American consumers have repeatedly expressed an 
        interest in buying goods not made with exploited labor.
            (9) American consumers frequently have no ability to know 
        whether a product has been made with exploited labor.
            (10) Informed consumer choices can be a powerful tool in 
        the reduction of sweatshops and exploited labor.
            (11) The market for college and university licensed 
        merchandise such as caps, t-shirts, sweat pants, and other 
        items is valued at over $2,000,000,000 a year, with 80 percent 
        of the market coming from apparel products.
            (12) Several universities have adopted codes of conduct 
        specifically requiring companies that manufacture products 
        bearing those universities' names to adhere to minimum labor 
        standards both domestically and abroad, but few universities 
        and colleges, and none of those with the largest volume of 
        merchandise sales, have labor codes of conduct regarding 
        sweatshop and child labor covering companies that market their 
        merchandise.
            (13) The Association of Collegiate Licensing Administrators 
        is expected to discuss licensing codes of conduct at its annual 
        meeting beginning on May 13.
    (b) Sense of the Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that 
all American colleges and universities should adopt rigorous 
educational merchandise licensing codes of conduct to assure that 
university and college licensed merchandise is not made by sweatshop 
and exploited adult or child labor either domestically or abroad and 
that such codes should include at least the following:
            (1) public reporting of the code and the companies adhering 
        to it;
            (2) independent monitoring of the companies adhering to the 
        code by entities not limited to major international accounting 
        firms;
            (3) an explicit prohibition on the use of child labor;
            (4) an explicit requirement that companies pay workers at 
        least the governing minimum wage and applicable overtime;
            (5) an explicit requirement that companies allow workers 
        the right to organize without retribution; and
            (6) an explicit requirement that companies maintain a safe 
        and healthy workplace.
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