Universities confront factory monitoring

After recent headline-grabbing protests at places such as the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin have prompted those schools to withdraw from the Fair Labor Association (FLA), questions have arisen about Yale's own status as a member. As might be expected, Yale's Students Against Sweatshops (SAS) is organizing a protest for next week. But uncertainties still surround the validity of the protestors' claims. After meeting with President Richard Levin, GRD '74, and Yale Licensing Director Helen Kauder, SAS said in a press release on Fri., Feb. 25, "President Levin was again resistant toward taking steps."

SAS is trying to get Yale to follow the lead of other schools in leaving the FLA for a newer organization, the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). Although the FLA and the WRC regulate the workplace standards at facilities where licensees manufacture University apparel, there is a vast disparity between them, if you believe the arguments of SAS.

COURTESY DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN At the University of Pennsylvania, President Judith Rodin gave in to protestors.

The FLA is a worker rights organization that boasts the membership of four major human-rights-focused non-governmental organizations (NGOs); 10 clothing manufacturers, including industry giants such as Nike and L.L. Bean; and 131 colleges and universities, including most of the Ivy League and several elite small colleges. The organization's stated goal is to improve conditions in manufacturing facilities throughout the developing world by working with corporations. It has developed a set of standards to which its members adhere, and it inspects the facilities of its members to monitor compliance with rules. Goods produced by members bear an FLA logo, but while the FLA produces a public overview of its members' behavior, specific abuses are not made public. Executive Director Sam Brown describes the FLA's basic mission as "improving an entire industry, not just catching a bad guy."

The WRC's approach is quite the opposite—it makes public reports of abuses at different facilities, with the expectation that consumer activism will force offending facilities to change their ways. The WRC does not seek to work with corporations. In the words of SAS member Amanda Bell, DC '00, "Corporations are already powerful enough—we want to use the power of public outrage." Workers report abuses to a network of partners throughout the developing world, which in turn contact the WRC. An investigation is then conducted, followed by a public report.

The FLA's approach cannot work, SAS claims, because it is beholden to corporate interests. Bell pointed out that to bear the FLA logo, only 30 percent of a company's factories need to have passed inspection, and for the logo to be removed, a super-majority of the board of the directors must approve—a difficult task when almost half the votes are held by corporations. SAS members also point to the lack of NGO support. While the WRC relies on an international network of NGOs, the FLA has seen 10 NGOs desert its cause in the last year.

SAS is not alone in these beliefs. In a press release Temple University President Peter Liacouras said, "I am concerned that Temple University may have been unwittingly compromised by having joined the Fair Labor Association...because the 14-person Board of Directors of FLA may be dominated by manufacturers and suppliers of apparel, undermining the objectivity and independence of the `monitor' from the industry being monitored."

The FLA responds to critics by maintaining that corporate participation does not compromise its efforts, but rather provides an additional tool to improve human rights. "It is impossible to really monitor a facility unless you have the partnership of the owners," Brown said. "Working with corporations allows us this extended level of involvement." FLA advocate Bama Athreya added that withdrawals by NGOs had much to do with power struggles within the organizations. Both Brown and Athreya are of the opinion that there need not be agitation between the FLA and the WRC. "Such an internecine struggle takes energy away from the real issue, which is to improve worker rights," Brown said.

The members of SAS sees no room for compromise between the two groups. In their eyes, as long as the University remains part of the FLA, any effort to improve workers' rights is ultimately at the mercy of corporate interests. The organization has a rally planned for Tue., Feb. 29, and has set Mon., Mar. 27, as a deadline for the Administration to hand down a decision regarding the FLA and WRC. SAS will keep fighting because, according to Bell, "Students Against Sweatshops believes the structure of the WRC is fundamentally more sensitive and efficient than that of the FLA."

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