Anti-Sweatshop Group Grants 'Accreditation' to 6 Companies That Manufacture College-Licensed Gear
By JEFFREY SELINGO
The Fair Labor Association, an anti-sweatshop group that includes nearly 200 colleges, endorsed the workplace-compliance programs of six major apparel and footwear companies on Thursday, saying their labor practices around the world met the group's standards.
This is the first time the association has "accredited" compliance programs, and some of the largest collegiate licensees were among those approved: Adidas-Salomon, Nike, and Reebok. Also receiving accreditation were Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, and Phillips-Van Heusen. Those companies are among the association's corporate members.
The granting of accreditation marked the end of a multiyear process for the manufacturers in which they established a workplace-standards program that was then evaluated by the association. Among other things, the group assessed whether the companies had conducted internal monitoring of their facilities, allowed unannounced visits by independent monitors to factories throughout their supply chains, and fixed problems in a timely manner. Details of the accrediting standards are available on the association's Web site <http://www.fairlabor.org/docs/accreditation-background-052005.pdf> (requires Adobe Reader, available free).
The companies approved on Thursday will be reviewed for re-accreditation every two years. As a result, accreditation is "a milestone in an ongoing commitment," not a sign that the manufacturers are "perfect," said Robert K. Durkee, one of three university members on the association's Board of Directors.
"This is only the beginning," said Mr. Durkee, who is vice president for public affairs at Princeton University. "We have confirmed that they have done what they said they would do in putting these kinds of compliance programs in place. Going forward, they have to identify shortcomings in their factories for remediation."
Doug Cahn, vice president for the human-rights program at Reebok, said Thursday's decision "helps assure campus communities that we are acting in good faith and improving conditions for workers."
But a student group with close ties to a rival sweatshop-monitoring organization criticized the Fair Labor Association's accreditation process as "dangerous," saying that colleges would see it as a stamp of approval.
"It gives them credibility and makes it seem that they have done enough, and they certainly haven't," said Jessica Rutter, a national organizer with United Students Against Sweatshops. The student organization holds five seats on the 15-member board of the Worker Rights Consortium, which does not allow manufacturers to join.
Ms. Rutter, who graduated from Duke University last spring, maintained that all of the companies accredited by the Fair Labor Association still have "very severe labor violations in their supply chain" and the Fair Labor group could not even begin to adequately approve the compliance programs without visiting all of a company's factories. FLA-approved monitors visit at least 5 percent of the factories worldwide of its members and conduct additional visits for those manufacturers nearing accreditation.
"We shouldn't be letting these companies off the hook," Ms. Rutter said. "They still have a long way to go."