At its February 2015 meeting, the FLA Board of Directors unanimously approved the implementation of the FLA Fair Compensation Work Plan, upon the recommendation of the Monitoring Committee.
This approval was accompanied by an amendment that calls for the FLA president to bring forward recommendations by the June Board meeting to “revise the plan to: 1) take appropriate, meaningful actions, where reasonable, to implement the plan at an accelerated pace, and 2) make relevant accountability measures more concrete.”
Throughout the drafting of the work plan, the FLA benefited from the diversity of perspectives shared through consultation with brands, suppliers, universities, and civil society organizations. A link to a summary of those comments (including a signed, public letter from several civil society organizations and unions) appears below, along with a link to the work plan, and the FLA’s response to the public letter.
The overall wage landscape for workers is in true crisis around the world and requires action. A first step for FLA affiliates came in 2011, when the FLA enhanced the compensation element of its Workplace Code of Conduct, affirming workers’ right to wages that “meet the worker’s basic needs and provide some discretionary income.” This work plan charts the path forward for implementing that code element, providing fair compensation for workers, one of the biggest challenges in building socially responsible supply chains.
Low pay is an affront to the humanity and dignity of workers. It is at the root of other chronic issues such as excessive hours of work, and it is aggravated by failures to protect freedom of association and support collective bargaining. Compensation issues are also heavily interlinked with other challenges in the supply chain such as improving productivity and implementing responsible purchasing practices. With the approval of this work plan, the FLA and its affiliates agree to a new strategy for working together to make progress on all of these issues.