On Thursday, student Senate will vote on a proposal brought forth by the student anti-sweatshop group Priorities concerning St. Olaf's anti-sweatshop affiliation.

Currently, St. Olaf belongs to an anti-sweatshop organization called the Fair Labor Association. Priorities would like to see the school drop out of this organization and join the Worker's Rights Consortium instead. To this end, they have spoken at several senate meetings and, according to co-leader Patrick Thomas, have collected 1500 signatures on a petition.

The two groups have similar aims, but Priorities leaders Caleb Kaspar and Thomas believe there are fatal flaws in the FLA and that St. Olaf purposes would be better served by joining the WRC.

The WRC focuses exclusively on labor conditions in college and university licensees, whereas the FLA works with the entire clothing industry. The WRC also has seats for several administrators and members of the group United Students Against Sweatshops. The FLA recently added a university representative, but this representative does not vote. "WRC empowers us a lot more as consumers," Thomas said.

Priorities was born last spring after Kaspar went to an anti-sweatshop demonstration and began to be concerned about college apparel made in sweatshops. The group now has regular contact with the administration to talk about their concerns.

They've also been involved in protests at Kohl's and Target, and have sponsored speakers including Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu, who spoke against Nike on February 15.

The FLA, St. Olaf's current affiliate, began as a government committee under Clinton and now receives money from several sources, including some from corporations. Corporations joining the organization agree to have 30% of their factories monitored regularly by monitors selected from an FLA-approved list. The WRC does not regularly monitor factories. It also does not have a formal code of conduct, though it specifies that member schools must hold their licensees to certain basic standards.

In reference to the WRC, the FLA web site says, "Its proposal may complement the FLA process, but will not, by itself, be sufficient to improve conditions comprehensively across the apparel and footwear industries as a whole, or among university licensees." The FLA sees regular monitoring of factories as essential to labor reform.

Priorities is suspicious of the FLA's close association with corporations, saying that their policy of interviewing workers in the same room as their boss may lead to workers being frightened to complain. They describe the WRC as worker-supported, and hope that if enough institutions withdraw their support, FLA will be encouraged to change. "I think St. Olaf can be a good example by dropping out of FLA," Kaspar said. "Since we can't change the FLA from the inside," Thomas added, "We can join WRC to let them know what we want."

Priorities has organized a table outside the cafeteria collecting more signatures in preparation for the Thursday night vote. If the proposal is defeated, "We won't be happy," Kaspar said, " but in the end, you've got to remember, it's people you're trying to help."