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| Vol. 19, No. 3 | Sept. 16, 1999 |
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| Vol. 19, No. 3 | Sept. 16, 1999 |
The University of Delaware, along with more than 118 other schools including Pennsylvania State, Johns Hopkins, Brown and Yale universities, Gettysburg College and the universities of Pennsylvania, Maine and North Carolina, has become a college/ university affiliate of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a nonprofit organization that will monitor companies to assure that products bearing school names are not produced under sweatshop conditions.
Barbara Kreppel, administrative services, said the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), with which UD is affiliated, had been working for 18 months on developing a code of its own and was at the planning stage of enforcement. However, in reviewing the FLA code and the procedures it was putting into place, CLC felt that the FLA addressed the issues that were of concern and that FLA was in a position to facilitate monitoring and enforcement. Consequently, it recommended that CLC members join FLA.
FLA has adopted a code of conduct, which deals with such topics as forced labor, child labor, harassment or abuse, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, wages and benefits, hours of work and overtime compensation. Through its professional staff, FLA will monitor companies to assure they comply with the standards of the code.
FLA and the code were initially created by representatives of the apparel and footwear industries, human rights groups, labor, religious organizations, university interests and consumer advocates in conjunction with the White House and the Department of Labor. Recently, it was decided to add a college/university voice to the FLA board, create an advisory council, establish a college/ university liaison position on the staff and encourage college/ university affiliation.
Recently, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), a founder of FLA, began a one-year pilot project to increase the capacity of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including labor unions, to participate effectively in the monitoring processes of FLA. The project, funded by member colleges and universities including UD, will provide on-the-job training for NGOs in four countries in Asia and Latin America.
According to ILRF executive director, Pharis J. Harvey, the one-year project will help ensure that "locally based representatives of workers and of human rights and religious communities in developing countries will be able to participate meaningfully in the FLA monitoring process."
"This is a good starting point for ensuring that providers of products bearing the UD name and logo meet manufacturing standards," Kreppel said. "Once the procedures are in place, the system probably will evolve and change over time to meet the challenges that lie ahead." 
-Ginger Pinholster
