UW-Madison will enter mediation with its exclusive athletics sponsor, Adidas, to resolve a dispute over the treatment of Indonesian factory workers, interim chancellor David Ward said Tuesday. The approach is less draconian than one Ward indicated he might take earlier this month, when he said he may put Adidas “on notice” that it was in breach of a labor code of conduct. That would have given Adidas 90 days to address concerns over severance payments to overseas workers before the university would terminate its roughly $2.5 million contract with the company.
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