Sweatshop Facts

  1. USC's only factory monitor, the Fair Labor Association (FLA), is funded by the companies it monitors and these same companies have veto power over all major decisions the FLA makes.1

  2. Unlike the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), the FLA does not make its factory investigation reports public.

  3. The FLA only requires 5% of company factories to be monitored.

  4. The WRC is an independent organization run by labor experts, university administrators and students.2

  5. The WRC requires each investigative team to include a local worker representative.

  6. The WRC has successfully worked with factory managers and name brands to improve conditions in factories such as BJ&B in the Dominican Republic.3

1 The FLA Charter - http://www.fairlabor.org/all/about/FLAcharter.pdf
2 WRC Governing Principles- http://www.workersrights.org/govern.asp
3 David Gonzalez, "Latin Sweatshops Pressed by U.S. Campus Power." The New York Times, 4 April 2003.