Since January 2009, Russell faced the largest collegiate
boycott of an apparel company in history over labor violations in its Honduran factories. The boycott was co-ordinated by United Students Against Sweatshops in the United States and Canada in support of the Honduran garment workers' union SITRAJERZEESH. The
Worker Rights Consortium has documented violations of the rights of workers by Russell in its factory Jerzees de Honduras. The report found that Russell illegally fired nearly 2,000 in two of its factories, in retaliation for employees protesting against working conditions and forming a union. The report also stated that death threats were allegedly made against some members of the union, though not by senior management. In response, over eighty universities have canceled their contracts with Russell, including
Duke University,
Georgetown University,
Columbia University,
University of Michigan,
University of Miami,
University of Maryland,
University of Washington,
University of Houston,
Penn State University,
Rutgers University,
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,
University of Wisconsin–Madison,
Purdue University,
Cornell University,
University of Florida, and the
University of Aberdeen in Scotland. On May 13, 2009, sixty-five
members of Congress wrote to Russell CEO John Holland to express their concern over the labor violations. On June 25, 2009, Russell became the first collegiate licensee to be placed on
probation by the
Fair Labor Association. At first, Russell said it was being unfairly targeted by the garment workers' union and student activists, and that the plant closure was due to the general downturn in the world economy. Five schools announced they planned to continue doing business with Russell. However, at least one of those, the
University of Florida, has since terminated its licensing deal with Russell. The company had issued a statement noting that it had recognized the unionization of the Jerzees de Honduras plant on October 3, 2007. In later statements, the company admitted wrongdoing, although the violations are yet to be resolved., ==Sponsorships==