The board of directors of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which works to improve workplace conditions in factories around the world, recently took action to increase university participation on the board, increase participation by licensees and expand the FLA monitoring program to include additional products.

The board voted Oct. 24 to:

• amend its charter to increase university membership on its board from one to three;
• increase the number of fully participating companies from 10 to 13 by admitting three university licensees;
• admit five additional college and university licensees who are the first in a category of licensees that join for their licensed products. In admitting these licensees, the FLA expanded its scope beyond apparel and footwear companies; and
• accredit two new monitors, bringing the total number of FLA-accredited monitors from nine to 11.

"The FLA has taken some giant steps ... with the increased university representation, increased company participation, two newly accredited monitors, and the expansion of the FLA monitoring program to include products other than apparel and footwear," said Dan Glickman, former member of Congress, former secretary of agriculture and current chair of the FLA. "All of these actions reflect the deep commitment of all of our stakeholders to improve working conditions globally. The FLA can make a great contribution to ensuring that our trading system is both open and fair."

Cornell is a founding member of the FLA.

"I want to commend Princeton's Bob Durkee, who has been a member of the FLA board since its inception," said Henrik N. Dullea, Cornell vice president for university relations. "Bob fought successfully for increased university representation and has provided first-rate leadership to the FLA board as its presiding officer during the search that led to Secretary Glickman's appointment. Bob's steady commitment to improving the working conditions of people throughout the world by engaging manufacturers, human rights organization and universities in common effort must be applauded."

The FLA now has six company representatives, six human rights representatives, three university representatives and one chair. The eight new companies admitted yesterday include three category A licensees -- fully participating companies, which brings the total number of fully participating companies to 13. In addition, five category B licensees were admitted. Category B licensees are companies that submit to the FLA's monitoring process only those facilities that produce or manufacture products under license from FLA-affiliated schools.

The wider range of products produced by the new companies include class rings, yearbooks, graduation products, school photography, achievement awards, woven blanket throws, wall hangings, beanbags, outdoor furniture, bags, hosiery, collectibles and plastic mugs and sports bottles.

The two new monitoring organizations approved by the board are the A & L Group Inc. (ALGI) and Cotecna Inspections. ALGI, a labor inspection firm based in New York, is accredited in the United States. Cotecna Inspections, a Geneva-based verification and inspection organization, is accredited in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and the United States.

The FLA is a unique collaboration of companies, human rights and labor rights organizations and 160 colleges and universities working to improve workplace conditions in factories around the world. It currently has 13 participating companies that contract with more than 4,000 factories in 75 countries and represent more than $30 billion in apparel and footwear sales.

Companies participating in the FLA process make a commitment to implement a code of conduct with very high standards. They also commit to a process of internal and external monitoring, remediation of problems and an eventual public report on their performance.

The FLA Workplace Code of Conduct prohibits forced labor, child labor, harassment or abuse, and discrimination. The code requires high health and safety standards, freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, and establishes standards for payment of wages and benefits. The code also limits hours of work and requires premium overtime compensation.

The FLA to date has accredited 11 independent monitors for specific countries and for one or more code elements. FLA's staff conducts thorough evaluations of materials, interviews applicants and their references, and investigates applicants' resources and capabilities.

Cornell also is a member of the Workers Rights Consortium (known as WRC), which like the FLA monitors codes of conduct throughout the world. In addition, eight Cornell faculty members joined 434 academics worldwide in signing a recent statement by Scholars Against Sweatshop Labor. The statement encourages anti-sweatshop activists "to continue to deepen both their own understanding and their educational efforts -- to examine conditions facing workers generally in developing countries, including those not employed in sweatshops; and to consider the most effective means of improving these general conditions."