About
Too many workers face unsafe conditions, excessive working hours, low pay, harassment, and discrimination. While a job in the garment or agriculture sectors can be a first step out of poverty in developing countries, particularly for women, wages may not be sufficient to meet basic needs and provide discretionary income. Also, global estimates indicate there are more than 152 million children workers including in the agriculture sector, and more than 20 million children are in forced labor. The FLA has three overarching objectives: 1) to strengthen the voice of workers; 2) to improve working conditions through transparency and effective remediation; and 3) to demonstrate a positive impact on workers' lives. We work toward these objectives through the collaborative effort of business, civil society organizations, and universities. Our work promotes robust labor standards through an accreditation process that holds companies accountable while driving systemic improvement through innovation, remediation, and capacity building. The standards that guide our work - the FLA code of conduct and principles of fair labor and responsible sourcing - adhere to, and sometimes exceed, established international standards and guidelines. FLA principles are in full support of the International Labor Organization, the universal declaration of human rights (articles 23 and 24), and the sustainable development goals, namely goals 1 ("end poverty in all its forms everywhere") and 8 ("promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all"). As with the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights (UN Guiding Principles), the FLA's principles and programs concretize the obligation of companies to recognize and respect the human rights of those impacted by their operations.
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