Way to go, college students!

Reebok, the sports shoe manufacturer, admitted this week that conditions at two of its factories in Indonesia were distinctly sub-par and says its subcontractors have spent $500,000 to improve them. Reebok's action came after a boycott of its shoes on campuses around the country coordinated by United Students Against Sweatshops, a nationwide student coalition. Nice going, good win.

Reebok also deserves credit: In response to the boycott and criticism from human rights groups, the company commissioned a study of working conditions in its foreign factories 14 months ago and has apparently followed up on the findings. "We hope that this will also break through and encourage more companies to do something like this," said a Reebok vice president.

USAS also urged students to join a new group — the Worker Rights Consortium — that will set a strict code of conduct for overseas factories that make clothes with university names.

USAS then pressed universities to withdraw from the Fair Labor Association, a group backed by the Clinton administration, on grounds that the group's practices are insufficient. The specific criticisms of Fair Labor include letting manufacturers choose the monitors, letting manufacturers choose which plants will be monitored and giving advance notice of inspections. Another very smart move by the college students. In my day, we referred to this as "not getting co-opted by the Establishment."

Several human-rights groups have helped with the anti-sweatshop movement, but the bulk of the energy seems to come from the campuses.

USAS has become quite sophisticated about how to guarantee independent monitoring and is also working for living wages for foreign workers, based on economic conditions in each country. These laptop activists have already had a major impact on collegiate licensing industry and should in time be able to affect the entire apparel industry.

The apparel industry is — to use a word I loathe — paradigmatic, in that it is completely globalized and notoriously exploitative. Apparel manufacturers are actually design and marketing firms that "out-source" production to independent contractors all over the world. This model is increasingly copied by other industries as they seek to lower labor costs and avoid worker organizing.

Any Texan can get a look at the results by visiting the maquiladoras just on the other side of the Tex-Mex border. The toxic dump in Matamoros is worth a visit all on its own.

Tom Friedman, The New York Times' foreign affairs columnist, has observed: "For many workers around the world the oppression of unchecked commissars has been replaced by the oppression of the unregulated capitalists, who move their manufacturing from country to country, constantly in search of those who will work for the lowest wages and lowest standards. To some, the Nike swoosh is now as scary as the hammer and sickle."

Middle-aged activists who waste time bemoaning apathy on campus could help by getting off their duffs and helping spread word about the USAS boycotts.

Lest you think hideous working conditions are found only in the Third World, consider the case of Big Chicken, the poultry industry in America.

Workers in chicken factories endure conditions that would shame Guatemala or Honduras. Many stand for hours on end in sheds that reek of manure, or chop chickens all day in cold, dark plants, or are constantly scratched by live chickens that have to be crammed into cages by the thousands.

The New York Times reported that the Rev. Jim Lewis, an Episcopal priest whose assignment is to improve the lives of poultry workers, once led a wildcat strike against a plant where a worker was fired after he had a finger cut off. The wages are so low, workers often qualify for welfare. And as Texans know from our experience with Big Chicken in East Texas, these plants are often notorious polluters as well, fouling both air and water.

The point of the Times article on Lewis was to demonstrate that hundreds of priests, ministers and rabbis are involved in struggles to improve conditions for American workers on the bottom rungs of society.

This seems to me at least as newsworthy as the latest bulletin from the Christian right that Tinkie-Winkie, the purple Teletubbie, is gay or that the Harry Potter books are Satanic.

Speaking of Good Guys, on Nov. 7 in San Antonio, the Southwest Industrial Area Foundation Network will celebrate 25 years of organizing folks to get governments to act on the needs in their communities. The network includes COPS in San Antonio, Valley Interfaith in the Rio Grande Valley, ACT in Fort Worth, EPISO in El Paso and 20 other organizations in seven states.

Much of this is the work of Ernie Cortes, who has trained and mentored 40 full-time organizers and hundreds of community leaders. In fact, pretty much the whole point of the program is to train leaders in poor communities, since only squeaky wheels ever get greased by government and these folks can't afford $1,000-suit lobbyists.

Cortes has been around so long that we sometimes forget what an amazing record he has. His groups have pushed for water and sewer utilities in the colonias, living wages in the Valley, paved streets and sewers in San Antonio, worked for better public schools, and on and on. The groups are non-partisan, non-denominational and multi-ethnic.

Cortes has been honored with a MacArthur genius grant, the H.J. Heinz Award for public policy and much more — although he has yet to get any recognition from Texas A&M, his alma mater.

Ernie Cortes may be impressive, but everyone in Texas government knows the sisters who head some of his organizations are the real power. If you want to see Texas politicians sit up and pay attention, just tell them "Ernie's nuns" are on the way.

Molly Ivins is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.