On September 21, workers at the Kukdong factory in Atlixco, Mexico signed a new collective bargaining agreement with factory management, completing one of the most important and inspiring victories for the cause of labor rights in the world this year. A factory once dominated by an illegal and unrepresentative labor union is now one of the only workplaces in the Mexican garment industry with a democratic, independent union chosen by the workers themselves. Other serious violations of worker rights have been eliminated at Kukdong (now called Mexmode) and the prospects for further positive change and a better life for the factory's workers are strong.

This Fall, workers from Kukdong will visit a dozen U.S. colleges and universities to share their experiences and celebrate this extraordinary labor rights success with the students, administrators and faculty who helped make it happen. College and university Codes of Conduct played a central role in correcting worker rights violations at Kukdong -- demonstrating that U.S. colleges and universities really can make a difference in working conditions abroad.

A forum will be held on each campus, featuring two workers from Kukdong, both leaders in the new union at the factory, and two leading Mexican labor rights researchers -- they will speak about the experience at Kukdong and the road ahead for labor rights efforts in Latin America. Staff from the Worker Rights Consortium -- which played a key role through its investigation of rights violations at Kukdong, will join them. WRC staffers will discuss the role of U.S. and international monitoring organizations, and of Nike and Reebok, in the Kukdong case and the implications of this success for future efforts to enforce college and university Codes of Conduct. At each school, administration and student representatives will also speak.

Participants will include:

• Marcela Muñoz Tepepa - Kukdong worker and the founding General Secretary of the Independent Union of Mexmode Workers
• Ivan De Erick Diaz Xolo - Kukdong worker and another leader in the reform effort at Kukdong
• Huberto Juárez Nuñez - Researcher in Economics at the Autonomous University of Puebla
• Catalina Gúzman Albafull - Research Assistant in Economics at the Autonomous University of Puebla
• Scott Nova - Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium
• Katie Quan - Director of the Henning Center for International Labor Relations

Itinerary

November 28:	Washington DC - Georgetown University
November 29:	Connecticut and Massachusetts - University of Connecticut and Harvard University
November 30:	North Carolina -- University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
December 2:	Indiana - Indiana University
December 3:	Michigan and Wisconsin - University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin -- Madison
December 5:	California (San Jose and Bay Area) - San Jose State University and the University of California -- Berkeley, 7 PM, Director's Lounge, 2521 Channing Way in Berkeley
December 6:	California (Los Angeles) - University of Southern California

Sponsored by: Global Exchange, Sweatshop Watch, The Henning Center for International Labor Relations, UCB Center for Latin American Studies, UCB Human Rights Center, Students Organizing for Justice in the Americas, MEChA de UC Berkeley, Farm Worker Support Committee, Student Labor Action Coalition (partial list)