Carrying a symbolic grave, flowers and black balloons, members of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) at the UW led a symbolic funeral procession yesterday up the steps of Gerberding Hall to UW President Mark Emmert’s office.

The students were protesting the closure of a unionized factory in Honduras owned by Russell Athletic, which was shut down this past Friday. The factory was producing UW apparel.

In November 2008, the Worker Rights Consortium, an independent monitoring corporation that works with the UW, released a detailed report showing that Russell was illegally closing the factory in an effort to break up organized unions, and had blacklisted and threatened many union members.

“SLAP sent [Emmert] a letter in October asking that he take immediate action,” said George Robertson, a senior and active member of SLAP. “He has not responded to our requests for a meeting... so we held this event.”

Emmert was not in his office when students from SLAP filtered into the waiting area and released black balloons to signify the workers who have been blacklisted by Russell. But Norm Arkans, Associate Vice President of Media Relations and Communications, said the University is aware of the situation and has been discussing action.

The UW does adhere to a labor code of conduct.

“In December, we sent a letter to Russell to let them know they were in violation of their agreement with us, and there have been a number of investigations of what went on down there,” Arkans said. “We’ve been reviewing all that material, and in the next couple of weeks we’ll decide what action we’ll be taking.”

This is news to members of SLAP.

“To the best of my knowledge, the last communication we received from the University was back in November,” SLAP member Matt Reed said.

Reed feels the UW is not doing a good enough job communicating with the community, especially concerned students.

“Students are being left out, and that’s not good,” Reed said. “We’re obviously very concerned and well-informed about the issues. I think to collaborate with us about the issue would be a productive step.”

Last year, the UW had a licensing advisory committee with students as members. But Arkans said the administration decided the group needed a clearer mandate, so it has since been disbanded. Reed claims the committee was just formed to appease concerned students.

“The reason that the committee doesn’t exist is because UW was negotiating contracts without student participation,” Reed said.

SLAP members and University officials agree that Russell’s actions in Honduras are out of line.

Arkans said the UW is currently in the process of establishing a new advisory committee, although members of SLAP maintain that another committee is not a solution to the communication problem.

Reed maintains that if the UW wants to put student concerns to rest, they need to be more transparent about their actions.

“If the UW is taking action and communicating their concerns to Russell, then they need to make it known in a better way,” he said. “I’d like to see a published copy of the letter they sent to Russell.”

Reach news editor Casey Smith at news@dailyuw.com.