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Fair Labor Association (FLA) The Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) was initiated by the White House in August 1996 to take steps to protect workers worldwide and to give the public information it needs to make informed purchasing decisions. The Partnership is comprised of apparel and footwear companies, a prominent U.S. university, human rights groups, labor and religious organizations, and consumer advocates. In November 1998, a working group of the AIP reached an agreement to create a new nonprofit entity, the Fair Labor Association (FLA), to oversee monitoring of compliance with the Workplace Code of Conduct, which was established in April 1997 by the AIP. The Fair Labor Association is a new nonprofit organization set up to accredit independent monitors, to determine whether companies are in compliance with the Association’s standards, and to issue public reports that will assure consumers that they are purchasing apparel and footwear that has not been made under exploitative conditions. It is the first industry-wide system that holds U.S.-based apparel and footwear companies accountable for the work of their contractors and suppliers around the world. It also represents a unique effort by non-governmental organizations and companies to address collectively problems of exploitative working conditions. It includes an unprecedented system of public reporting and review.
On September 9,1999, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) announced the appointment of Charles Ruff as the first Chair of its Board of Directors. The Association will accredit independent monitors who will inspect factories manufacturing products for each company that is part of the FLA's monitoring process. The FLA's Board of Directors includes an equal number of companies and human rights, labor rights and consumer organizations. It also includes a university representative. As Chair of the Board, Mr. Ruff will help lead this new institution that will oversee the enforcement of an industry wide code of conduct and monitoring principles in the apparel and footwear industries. Ten companies have agreed to participate in this process to date: Adidas-Salomon A.G, Kathie Lee Gifford, Levi Strauss & Co, Liz Claiborne Inc., L.L. Bean, Nicole Miller, Nike, Patagonia, Phillips Van Heusen, and Reebok. In addition, 121 colleges and universities have affiliated with the FLA, requiring their licensees to comply with FLA standards. Four public interest organizations; the International Labor Rights Fund, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the National Consumers League and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights have participated in the establishment of the FLA. The FLA code of conduct includes provisions on forced labor, child labor, harassment or abuse, nondiscrimination, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, wages and benefits, hours of work, and overtime compensation. It applies to contractors and suppliers as well as the companies themselves. On the issue of wages, the code recognizes that "wages are essential to meeting employees "basic needs" and requires that "employers shall pay employees, as a floor, at least the minimum wage required by local law or the prevailing wage, whichever is higherhe FLA charter explicitly recognizes that the issue of an appropriate standard for wages needs further attention. The U.S. Department of Labor is conducting a study of the relationship between wages and basic needs of workers around the world that will be reviewed by the FLA, along with "other pertinent and necessary data," in considering possible future modifications of the code. Companies seeking FLA certification must conduct internal monitoring of all their factories every year in accordance with FLA principles that require companies to communicate the code to all workers in their languages, train company monitors, conduct periodic inspections and audits, create confidential reporting mechanisms for workers, establish means of remediation, and develop relationships with local labor, human rights or religious organizations. In addition, independent external monitors accredited by the FLA must inspect at least 30% of a company's facilities initially and between 5% and 15% per year after that, again in accordance with FLA principles. After three years, the FLA will determine, in consultation with experts, whether this level of external monitoring is sufficient. The FLA's external monitoring principles require clear evaluation guidelines and criteria, verification of internal monitoring, independent access to and independent audit of employee records, unannounced as well as announced inspections and audits, confidential employee interviews, assessment of remediation efforts, relationships with local labor, human rights or religious institutions, and evaluation reports submitted to the FLA's professional staff. Companies will be required to disclose all factory locations to the professional staff of the FLA, which in the case of college and university licensees would include the staff member responsible for college/university liaison. The FLA staff has final authority to decide which facilities will undergo external monitoring. The FLA will also have an outside complaint procedure. The FLA's annual public report on each company will include a list of the countries and regions in which a company's facilities are located and in which the external inspections took place. To receive certification, a company must demonstrate effective implementation of internal and independent external monitoring, timely remediation of noncompliance, and sufficient measures to help prevent reoccurrence of patterns of compliance. The original FLA charter provided for a board of six industry representatives, six NGO/labor representatives, and a mutually agreed-upon chair. (NGO/labor representatives are to be selected from consumer, human rights, labor rights, and religious groups, labor unions, and other public interest organizations that work on issues related to fair labor standards.) The charter is being amended to create an additional voting seat on the board for a college/university representative who would be selected each year, for a renewable one-year term, by an advisory council composed of colleges and universities, as well as collegiate licensing companies and associations of college/university licensing officials, that affiliate with the FLA. The advisory council may make recommendations to the FLA board on any matters within the jurisdiction of the FLA, including matters related to the code of conduct, the monitoring principles, the accreditation of monitors, the selection of facilities to be monitored, the disclosure of company facilities, the annual reports, etc. While the full council is likely to meet once or twice annually, a broadly representative executive committee would meet more frequently, and the council is likely to establish some mechanism to assure ongoing student contributions to its work. Annual dues for college/university affiliates with licensing programs will be 1% of their previous year's licensing revenues (capped at $50,000) and a fee schedule also will be established for affiliated colleges and universities without licensing programs. In a number of ways. There will be periodic public communications addressing the monitoring process and identifying those companies that are participating, and those companies currently in compliance with the Association’s code and standards. The Association will also maintain a web site, distribute brochures, and provide an accessible system for consumers and workers to make inquiries and register complaints. The Apparel Industry Partnership has developed a preliminary budget. Initial funding will come from the participating companies, the government, and from foundations. Costs will increasingly be covered by companies as participation expands. To "participate" in the Association, a company must submit an application that includes a monitoring plan describing the company's internal and independent external monitoring program. The application will also include an agreement by the company to:
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