Fair Labor Association

From coffee and electronics to apparel and footwear, most of the products we enjoy and use every day are made by men and women in factories and on farms around the world. These workers harvest the cotton used to make our shirts, sew buttons and zippers onto our jackets, grow the cocoa our children drink, and make high-tech soles for our running shoes. Unfortunately, many of them work in deplorable conditions.

FLA’s Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Improving Workers’ Lives

The products we buy should not come at the cost of workers’ rights. The Fair Labor Association believes that all goods should be produced fairly and ethically, and brings together three key constituencies – universities, civil society organizations (CSOs) and companies – to find sustainable solutions to systemic labor issues. Since 1999, FLA has helped improve workers’ lives by:

• Holding affiliated companies accountable for implementing FLA’s Code of Conduct across their supply chains.
• Conducting external assessments so that consumers can be assured of the integrity of the products they buy.
• Creating a space for CSOs to engage with companies and other stakeholders to find viable solutions to labor concerns.
• The FLA’s vision is that workers in affiliate supply chains will earn compensation that is sufficient to meet their basic needs and have some discretionary income. The FLA’s 2020 Fair Compensation Strategy charts a path toward this goal. The 2020 plan includes an overview of the organizational commitment to fair compensation and includes the goals, tactics and timelines for these efforts.