About the school's commitment to protecting workers' rights and the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct: The University of Washington is affiliated with both the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) to help ensure that products bearing University marks are not manufactured by companies utilizing abusive labor practices. The University, in connection with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), FLA, and WRC, has adopted Labor Code Standards that cover various issues, including wages and benefits, working hours, child labor, health and safety, and freedom of association. These standards are monitored and enforced at factories around the world by both the Fair Labor Association and Worker Rights Consortium.
When Estofel, S.A. of Guatemala City, Guatemala, shut down in late 2007, a number of FLA affiliates—including the University of Washington, Gear for Sports, Hanesbrands and Philips-Van Heusen—led an effort with Ghim Li and the Collegiate Licensing Company that resulted in severance payments to 871 former Estofel workers from the parent company of the closed facility. Read more.
In May 2008, FLA received Third Party Complaints (3PC) from eight former workers at Estofel, S.A., a factory located in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The complainants raised allegations of labor violations, including failure to pay severance benefits owed to workers at the plant, which was closed in November 2007. Labor rights organization Commission for the Verification of Corporate Codes of Conduct (COVERCO) alerted FLA about the closure of the factory shortly after it occurred. FLA-affiliated company PVH Corp., and FLA-licensee University of Washington also addressed this issue. PVH Corp.