United Students Against Sweatshops is a grassroots, youth run, student-labor solidarity organization.

USAS Structure

USAS divides the country into nine regions. The nine regions include Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Midwest, Rockies, Northwest, California, Southwest, and most recently Canada. We also have High School Organizers who support USAS students in high schools across the country.

Regional Organizers There are up to two regional organizers for each of the nine regions throughout the country. The regional student organizers (known as "ROs") are chosen by their peers for their campus organizing experience and commitment to building new leaders and networks in their regions. They work closely with the national office to provide campuses in their region with daily support and resources. ROs make connections between students in order to coordinate strategic regional campaigns and give campaigns their support. They facilitate connections between more students regionally to coordinate their campaigns strategically and give mutual campaign support, act as a resource for new campus activists, and help organize regional conferences or trainings. ROs receive a stipend from USAS for their dedication and for the challenging work that they do.

Coordinating Committee

The Coordinating Committee is the 13-member decision making body of the United Students Against Sweatshops. The committee consists of a representative (or "rep") from identity caucus group, a rep from each committee and two at-large members. They are elected each year in August at the USAS Summer Conference  and make decisions about what USAS will be working on in the broadest sense, as well as policy decisions and campaign endorsements. The Coordinating Committee oversees USAS Staff, which includes three National Organizers

Identity and Allied Caucuses

USAS' four identity causes are the Women/Genderqueer Caucus, the People of Color Caucus, Queer Caucus, and the Working Class Caucus. These caucuses provide a structure for traditionally underrepresented groups to work on specific areas of campaign work and education involving people they identify with. USAS also has allied caucuses that focus on providing a supportive environment within the organization and battling the sexism, racism, heterosexism, and classism that exists within all of USAS as a result of socialization. Caucuses allow women, people of color, LGBTQ's, and the working class to devote unique talents and share invaluable opinions about USAS' goals. Our caucuses congregate at every national USAS meeting, and allied caucuses meet separately at the same time, to allow for a safe space for these students to discuss issues regarding the inclusiveness of USAS. Caucuses give reports at USAS plenary sessions to present a united voice, resolve concerns with USAS, and highlight potential focuses for the organization. In addition, there are specific USAS caucus email lists, to provide safe space and an engagement mechanism for identity-related work throughout the year. Each caucus has an elected representative that serves on the USAS Coordinating Committee. If you are interested in getting involved in the work of any of the caucuses, you should contact the caucus' coordinating committee representative. See our contact page for contact information.

Campaign Committees

USAS has working groups that generally have conference calls every couple of weeks. This is where the bulk of USAS work gets done. The working groups coordinate USASs four major campaigns on a national level. Information goes out regularly over listserves about the date, time, and phone number of conference calls. We encourage anyone interested in the following issues to get on a conference call, whether you want to get involved in national coordination or are just looking to learn from folks around the country who are working on similar campaigns as you.

Committees are open to any student from USAS who wishes to participate, but each also has representatives to the Coordinating Committee to coordinate and "bottom-line" the work and make any official decisions for the committee.

 

• International Solidarity Committee (ISC)
  International Solidarity Committee is USAS's oldest working group. The ISC does active solidarity work with workers involved in labor struggles around the world. The ISC regularly organizes delegations to factories outside the United States and coordinates solidarity actions here at home to support workers abroad. If you are interested in getting involved with this exciting work, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

   

• Campus-Community Solidarity Committee (CCSC)
  The CCSC works to address workers' struggles on our own campuses and in our own communities. The CCSC provides support for Living Wage Campaigns around the country and works to build ties between student labor activists and local communities organizing for change. In addition, this committee strategizes and coordinates support for workers who may not work on our campuses but do work in our communities. To join this working group, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

   

• Farmworker Solidarity/Ethical Contracting Committee (FS/EC C)
  The Farmworker Solidarity Committee is USAS's newest committee. The FSC works on issues related to the rights of farmworkers. Ethical Contracting works on supporting the rights of all workers whose products are sold through a contractual relationship with our campuses. USAS affiliates were active in the campaign to kick Taco Bell off of campuses in support of tomato pickers of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. To get involved, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
  

USAS holds vision-settings and retreats that are intended to evaluate the previous year and begin framing discussions about future direction prior to our summer national conference. These meetings include the elected leadership of USAS.

Working Groups or Standing Committees

• Alliance Building Committee (ABC)
  USAS's second oldest working group, the Alliance Building Committee works to ensure that USAS is an actively anti-oppressive organization, both in the work we do and the way we work. The committee organizes anti-oppression trainings around the country to ensure that all our affiliate organizations are fighting against oppression within our own groups, and produces literature on these issues. Most recently, USAS mandated that each region hold an anti-racist training for USAS affiliates.
  

Want to know more? Download this Map of the Coordinating Committee Structure from 2005!