The Fair Labor Association: A case study of emerging intersectoral collaboration as a strategy for ensuring global labor and human rights

This study provides a preliminary assessment of the likely effectiveness of an intersectoral collaborative strategy to protect the rights of workers in today's global society. In most industrialized countries labor rights have been relatively ensured as the result of the interplay of many local and national societal forces: the activism of civil society organizations such as labor unions, human rights and consumer groups; government regulatory policy; and the responsiveness of some businesses. But in the increasingly global economy, which relies almost entirely on market-driven dynamics and in which the protective influence of the state is diminishing, these more localized citizen forces are now less effective. In recent years many civil society organizations have engaged business through various adversarial strategies in an effort to make it more responsive to the social impact of its operations. Although such strategies have produced some positive results, many advocates question whether they are sufficiently effective in today's global reality. They, as well as some governments and some corporations, are therefore searching for alternative strategies that are transnational and intersectoral in scope and collaborative in nature. The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is one such strategy. The study consists of single-case, explanatory research. Data were collected primarily through interviews with key persons from all 3 sectors who have direct knowledge of the FLA, including its members, supporters, and critics, and secondarily through a review of documents. A limitation of this research, but one which can be addressed by further research, was the lack of field research in a developing country where the FLA strategy has recently been initiated. Conclusions are only tentative, but tend to support: the likely effectiveness of the FLA in improving working conditions in the factories used by its corporate members; the need for the continued use of other, adversarial strategies to complement strategic partnerships such as the FLA; and, the cumulative impact that such strategies as the FLA have on establishing a general climate supportive of global labor and human rights.