The Brand Responsibilty Project was a research project by UW Political Science professor Margaret Levi to document the campaign and dispute settlement between Nike Inc. and the Central General de Trabajadores of Honduras (CGT). Following the bankruptcy and closure in January 2009 of two Honduran factories (Hugger and VisionTex) that were part of Nike's supply chain, the CGT of Honduras claimed that Nike bore some of the responsibility for providing terminal compensation, benefits and priority rehiring for 1,800 factory employees. The plight of the Honduran factory workers came to the attention of various fair labor associations and university licensing advisory committees, including The University of Washington's Advisory Committee on Trademarks and Licensing (ACTL) has commenced an oral and digital history project on the recent and historic ACTL. In keeping with its mission, ACTL proceeded to evaluate whether or not Nike had violated the university's code of conduct (that Nike is contractually obligated to uphold) as the basis for its advice whether to renew or terminate the University of Washington's existing contract with Nike to supply university apparel. ACTL was part of a campaign to pressure Nike to ensure the workers received what was owed them under Honduran law. The dispute was resolved successfully when Nike announced on July 29th, 2010, that it had set aside $1.5 million as part of a compensation package for the terminated Hugger and VisionTex employees.
The interviews on this project document key negotiations. Other material relates to what caused Russell Athletic Brand (2007) to significantly change its labor practices in Central America. Material consists of public documents, media reports, private correspondence and internal memos. Interviews with key participants including the Worker's Rights Consortium (WRC) and the Fair Labor Association (FLA), the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), trade mark and licensing staff and their advisory committees at numerous US universities, the corporate social responsibility officers of Nike and the other relevant corporations, and representatives of important NGOs (e.g, Maquila Solidarity and COVERCO) and workers' representatives (e.g., the CGT). The interviews (full list available upon request) will provide crucial insight into strategies that improve the well being of the workers in Brand supply chain factories. The digital archive at the University of Washington Library will serve as a crucial scholarly resource for future research in the increasingly important areas of globalized social justice activism, labor relations, and corporate social responsibility. The collection will serve as a rich source of material for both social scientists and legal scholars who are interested in understanding the politics of legal and contractual obligations in complex domestic and international settings. Interviews with University of Washington President Mark Emmert (a key figure in the Nike-CGT negotiation process), UW political science professor Margaret Levi, Co-Chair of the University of Washington's ACTL Committee, and 18 other UW individuals involved in the Nike settlement in different stages and aspects of the negotiations. Research materials are included on the Nike, Estofel and Russell Athletic cases. Interviews were conducted in 2011 with former factory employees, other local participants in the negotiations.
Access to portions of the collection is restricted. Contact the Special Collections division of the University of Washington Libraries for details.
The creators' literary rights have been transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.
Donors: Milli Lake and Anne Greenleaf, December 06, 2011
Files of signed permission forms for oral history audio recordings have been retained by the University of Washington Labor Archivist, and will be available for use in 2062.
The Brand Responsibility Project website was regularly captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine from 2015-2019. The snapshots can be viewed here:
The interview materials are organized into folders by restricted or unrestricted status, then subdivided by format into audio and video. Another portion of project administrative and research files are organized into other folders.
Audio, video, and text files of interviews, release forms, transcripts, and research and planning materials generated by the Brand Responsibility Project. Much of this content is available in edited form on the BRP website.
Only members of the Brand Responsibility Project have access to the restricted portions of these digital records until 2062.
Portions of this series are closed to researchers until 2062.