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Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Union seeks to join lawsuit against adidas By Sam Cusick The Daily Cardinal
On Campus
Wordplay
Students from the First Wave Learning Community perform at Gordon Commons Tuesday night. The First Wave program gives students the opportunity to explore the art of hip-hop and spoken word, with a strong focus on activism. + Photo by Stephanie Daher
Capitol Police crack down on protestors without permits By Tyler Nickerson The Daily Cardinal
With 19 citations issued to Capitol protesters in the last week, recently appointed Capitol Police Chief Dave Erwin is sticking to his plan to crack down on protesters demonstrating in the Capitol without a permit, which he told to the Associated Press in late August. Police issued 12 citations to members of the “Solidarity Singers” last week, and delivered seven more to the homes of protestors Monday for not having the required permission to protest in the Capitol.
“There are some incidents where we have some protesters who are really pushing the envelope,” Erwin said in the August interview. “I understand it’s a political environment and some people feel that they have the right to do that, but there’s a line.” Erwin’s stepped-up enforcement is receiving criticism from Democratic legislators and groups questioning the legality and necessity of the crackdown. The Madison chapter of the National Lawyers Guild claims Erwin’s actions are politically motivated and inhibit peaceful
protestors’ right to free speech in a public place. “When someone gets a $200 ticket and is handcuffed by seven or ten Capitol police and taken away, it sends a message to people around the state that they’d better shut up and stay home; that seems to be the point,” the NLG said in a statement Friday. The Department of Administration responded to the criticism in a letter Friday. “The Chief has been very
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In the midst of a contract lawsuit between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its primary licensing partner adidas, a union representing unpaid workers at an Indonesian factory contracted by adidas requested to be part of the university’s lawsuit against the apparel company, a move UW-Madison’s Labor Licensing Policy Committee supports. The request comes nearly two months after negotiations between UW-Madison and adidas failed to resolve the dispute over whether or not adidas owes more than 2,700 workers nearly $2 million in severance pay after an adidas-contracted Indonesian factory, PT Kizone,
closed down in January 2011. LLPC Chair Lydia Zepeda said the addition of the workers’ union to the plaintiff party would benefit the case for UW-Madison, as it could provide additional factual information about the factory operations and Indonesian laws that are relevant to the case. Zepeda also said Wisconsin law states if a party has “any interest which would be affected by the declaration,” that party should be made a part of the lawsuit. “It only makes sense that [the union] should be a party in [the lawsuit] since it directly affects them,” Zepeda said. “So that’s why [the LLPC] supported it.” Following PT Kizone’s shut
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Stephanie Daher/cardinal File Photo
Student Labor Action Coalition members protest Chancellor David Ward’s decision to enter mediation with adidas.
Proposed 2013 capital budget could affect Library Mall, campus streets, city buses By Abby Becker The Daily Cardinal
Lesia Witkowsky/the daily cardinal
Madison Metro General Manager Chuck Kamp addresses how Metro Transit would use its funds in the proposed capital budget.
Madison’s financial committee continued deliberating Mayor Paul Soglin’s proposed 2013 capital budget at their meeting Tuesday, hearing presentations from city departments that affect areas of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The Board of Estimates reviewed Soglin’s proposed budget, which includes funding for the 700 and 800 blocks of State Street, more commonly known to UW-Madison students as Library Mall. While Library Mall is typically seen as an integral part of the UW-Madison campus, with
students rushing to the bookstore and frequenting the various food carts between classes, the 700 and 800 blocks of State Street are owned by the city of Madison, not the university. The city will pay a consultant $550,000 to design plans for Library Mall in 2013 and construction would begin in 2014 at an additional cost. The current infrastructure is in “poor condition” and the sidewalks, pavement, lighting and street furnishings are “dated,” according to the budget report. City engineer Rob Phillips said the design and construction process will be “interesting” due
to Library Mall’s history as a popular student area. “We would want to start out with kind of a blank slate and get a feel for what people want to see there,” Phillips said. The city also plans to designate $7,124,000 for road reconstruction on major streets in downtown Madison and throughout the UW-Madison campus. Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said the money would be used for new street lighting and general road repair in areas on North Charter Street, stretching from Regent to Johnson Streets, and
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”