Championing Worker’s Rights and Better Working Conditions

As the National Consumers League (NCL) celebrates 125 years and the Fair Labor Association (FLA) celebrates 25 years, it’s a great time to reflect on how far both organizations have come and how our collaboration continues to promote better conditions for workers.

The organization I lead, FLA, owes its beginnings to the intense efforts by NCL, which worked with labor unions, university students, companies, universities, human rights organizations, and the U.S. government to reach an unprecedented agreement—the Apparel Industry Partnership—to address the problem of sweatshop labor in the United States and throughout the world.

Rapidly changing trade patterns meant that global supply chains were moving offshore to places where workers had few, if any, protections. NCL took on the co-chair role at the Apparel Industry Partnership and helped forge labor standards for global supply chains, including respect for freedom of association, a crackdown on child labor, a cap on employer-mandated overtime hours, and more. This agreement also mandated the creation of an association that would, among other things, “develop a reliable, independent means to provide for public confidence” that companies were abiding by these standards. In 1999, NCL was present for the creation of the FLA, and has been a staunch supporter of us from the beginning.

It is no surprise that NCL was at the center of an effort to end sweatshop abuses. For the past 125 years, the League has been a driving force for improved working conditions. In fact, NCL’s original constitution declared that “goods should be produced and distributed at reasonable prices and in adequate quantity, but under fair, safe, and healthy working conditions that foster quality products for consumers and a decent standard of living for workers.”

I am very proud of the long-standing alliance between NCL and FLA. NCL CEO Sally Greenberg is a valued member of the FLA’s board of directors, and our two organizations continue to collaborate on many vitally important issues, including the ongoing battle against child labor in the United States and worldwide. The alignment of our missions and labor values allows us to multiply the impact of our respective organizations.

A great deal of work remains to be done to ensure that all workers can earn a living wage; have the right to bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions; are free from discriminatory practices in hiring and promotions; and have adequate family and medical leave policies that improve productivity and protect health and well-being.

We look forward to deepening our partnership with NCL on these and many other issues that support workers. Our partnership is an important catalyst for change, and we’ve only just begun.

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Jeff Vockrodt is President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association (FLA).