WRC and MV Sport Hold Supplier Accountable for Violations of University Standards

Please find here a new report from the WRC. These are the key points:

• An apparel supplier called Peace Textile, which does business as Pacific Sports, produced university logo goods for the licensee, MV Sport, at its factory in Haiti, known as PSH.
   
• The WRC found that PSH illegally dismissed 37 employees in order to punish them for joining together to ask the factory to improve conditions.
   
• The WRC worked with MV Sport to seek the employees’ reinstatement.
   
• Despite strenuous efforts over many months, Pacific Sports refused to reinstate the unlawfully fired workers.
   
• MV Sport has therefore discontinued its business relationship with this company. This fulfills MV Sport’s obligation, as a university licensee, not to do business with suppliers that refuse to comply with university standards.
   
• The WRC credits MV Sport for its positive action in this case, which sends a strong message to other suppliers of collegiate goods that compliance with university standards is not optional.

A more detailed summary follows below. The full report is here. As always, please let us know if you have any questions.

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Case Summary

Please find here a new report from the WRC concerning Peace Textile (d/b/a Pacific Sports), a former supplier to several university licensees, that refuses to correct violations of university labor standards at Pacific Sports Haiti (PSH), a garment factory it operates in that country.  

The WRC’s investigation found that PSH violated university labor standards when it discriminatorily targeted worker union leaders for mass dismissals, as part of downsizing at the factory between 2022 and 2024. Prior to the layoffs, PSH workers had formed a union to address reported excessive overtime, denial of sick leave, and harassment and abuse by managers.

At the time of the WRC’s investigation, PSH was disclosed as a supplier of collegiate apparel by the university licensee, MV Sport. Peace Textile and PSH have previously supplied the licensees, Uscape Apparel, The Duck Company, and CI Sport. PSH also produces t-shirts under Peace Textile’s “Pacific Sports” label.

Between 2022 and 2024, as its operations were affected by Haiti’s ongoing political and economic crisis, PSH laid off hundreds of workers and closed three of its seven factory buildings. The WRC’s investigation found that, in choosing which workers to dismiss and which to transfer to remaining operations, PSH targeted for firing 37 workers who were members of the factory’s union committee. This discrimination violated workers’ rights under both Haitian law and university labor standards.

Following our investigation, both the WRC and the university licensee, MV Sport, called on Peace Textile and PSH to correct the violations by offering reinstatement and back pay to the fired worker leaders, as university labor standards require. However, Peace Textile and PSH repeatedly refused.
 
MV Sport informed the WRC, accordingly, that it has discontinued any business with Peace Textile and PSH until the violations are remedied. The other licensees that previously used Peace Textile and PSH also committed that they will not resume sourcing from either unless the university code violations are corrected.
 
The WRC acknowledges the commitment of MV Sport and these other licensees to compliance with university labor standards in this case. The WRC continues to call upon Peace Textile and PSH to correct the outstanding violations.
 
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.