One of the leading advocates of international worker and human rights, Pharis Harvey, came before faculty members Monday afternoon and detailed why the Fair Labor Association is a viable monitoring organization.
Harvey, who helped establish the International Labor Rights Fund in 1986, is currently a member of the FLA’s board of directors. His speech was the second of three public forums sponsored by the University Senate’s ad hoc committee to clarify issues behind labor monitoring. The last forum will be held Feb. 28.
During their protests and sit-ins last year, supporters of the Worker Rights Consortium called the FLA a weak-willed front for corporations because its board of directors included industry representatives. Some members of the audience during Harvey’s presentation renewed this criticism by questioning both the role of corporations in the FLA and its monitoring practices.
Harvey defended the organization and said that if a university only had the resources for being committed to one organization, it should choose the FLA because the WRC’s reports on labor issues “come out in a somewhat random way,” and the FLA has a more systematic approach to monitoring.
But Harvey also said the two organizations can work extremely well together, and the University should try to join both organizations if possible.
“My own perception is that the FLA and WRC are compatible organizations that are mutually supportive and helpful,” he said.
ASUO University Affairs Coordinator Chad Sullivan, who has actively supported the WRC, questioned the role of corporations on the FLA’s board of directors.
Margaret Hallock, a professor with the Labor Education and Research Center, also said it didn’t sound as though there was a plurality of viewpoints on the FLA’s board.
“It seems to a lot of people that you don’t have the laborers and students,” she said.
Harvey said the group United Students Against Sweatshops has been invited several times to participate with the FLA, and there are already several labor representatives active in the organization. Harvey said the seven industry representatives cannot vote on issues that involve their own factories, and the mix of six representatives from human rights and labor groups and one university representative provide other voices to be heard during board discussions.
“Hopefully, this will provide us with a system of balance that keeps the process fair,” he said.
In addition to calling attention to corporate involvement in the FLA, Sullivan also expressed his doubts about the worth of the group’s factory inspections.
All of a company’s factories would be monitored in the first year of its being evaluated by the FLA, and in the second year, three out of 10 factories chosen by the FLA would be monitored. In following years, Harvey said, a statistical sampling model would determine which factories are inspected. When the FLA inspects financial records, it must announce the inspections, Harvey said. He said while it is common for some factories to have more than one set of books, the truth can usually be found during employee interviews.
“You can only hide so much,” he said. “If the workers say they make nine pesos and the books say 16, you can start digging.”
Matt Dyste, University director of trademark licensing, asked Harvey if the FLA was proposing a clothes label that would indicate to consumers the garment was made in humane conditions.
Because of the huge volume and short time in which products are made in the garment industry, Harvey said it would be essentially impossible for the FLA to initiate a label policy.
University Senate President and English Professor James Earl inquired about the University’s role in the wider issue of preserving humane conditions in foreign factories.
Harvey said the University has a responsibility as a top educational institution to educate young people about what popular garment industries are doing in foreign countries. If the industries are found in fault of violating basic labor standards, he said students can turn their massive purchasing power against the companies. “Students are the trendsetters in clothing and garment buying,” he said.
WRC vs. FLA: Fair monitors?
Daily Emerald
February 12, 2001
0
More to Discover