English

Supply Chain Innovation

Special Projects

Wages of Inequality: Wage Discrimination and Underpayment in Hybrid Seed Production in India

Wages of Inequality

A recent study commissioned by FLA and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) found ongoing and rampant wage discrimination and underpayment of wages in hybrid vegetable and cotton seed production in India. The study, conducted by Dr. Davuluri Venketeswarlu and Jacob Kalle, was conducted in four Indian states where hybrid seed production is largely concentrated – Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra – and involved interviews with nearly 500 workers on 200 seed farms and discussions with growers, civil society organizations, government officials and others.

Harvesting the Future

Pistachio harvesters in Turkey

Every summer, tens of thousands of seasonal workers migrate to agriculture production areas across Turkey. A majority of these workers are from the southeastern Turkey and they travel as family groups moving from crop to crop for six to eight months each year. Often, the children work alongside their migrant parents, contributing to the household income, but at the expense of their personal development.

ENABLE Project

A man harvesting rice.

The ENABLE Project is an FLA initiative targeted toward the agricultural sector. Activities include: agricultural monitoring; remediation; capacity building activities; and stakeholder engagement.

The stakeholder engagement component is an ENABLE initiative that seeks input from local and international experts on agricultural monitoring, remediation and capacity building efforts. These consultations are organized with the overall objective of enhancing the effectiveness and relevance of the work the FLA is undertaking in the agriculture sector.

FAIR-ART

The face of a female micro-producer.

Many companies have supply chains extending beyond factories to informal settings where accessories or embellishment processes are completed. People working in the informal sector – artisan clusters, home workers, micro-producers and marginalized communities – are particularly vulnerable given the unregulated nature of those workplaces. Companies do not always have the means or tools to monitor them, and are unaware of the social impact of their intervention on those groups.

Central America Project

Map of Central America

The Central America Project was launched in collaboration with FLA Participating Companies - including adidas Group, Nike, Inc., Gildan, Liz Claiborne, and PVH Corp. - to develop long-lasting mechanisms and tools to produce measurable improvements in workplace conditions in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The project primarily focused on the issues of discrimination, harassment and abuse, and freedom of association in the apparel assembly or maquila sector.

Labor Risks, Monitoring, and Remediation on Cottonseed Farms in India

Cottonseed farms

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) conducted this task and risk mapping study in India in 2004 to assess the labor risks in cottonseed farms, with a focus on child labor; to map potential internal and external workplace monitoring systems; and to map local remedial programs. The study consolidates data from two assessment visits made in April 2004 and October 2004 to Andra Pradesh (AP) and Gujarat, two of the largest hybrid cottonseed producing states in India.

HeRmeS-R Project

HeRmeS-R Logo

The HeRmeS-R project was a two-year initiative (2007-2009) supported by the European Commission under the Leonardo da Vinci program and a grant from the Swiss government. Eight European partners joined together in a multi-stakeholder collaborative approach to improve the human resource and CSR standards and policies of subcontractors across many industries. Stakeholders created training programs to equip participants with the knowledge and tools needed to train executive staff.

These programs covered corporate social responsibility broadly, including such topics as:

PREPARE Project

The PREPARE project is a "top-down bottom-up" approach to improve the efficacy of worker representation in factories in Bangladesh. The project employed qualified local trainers who worked directly with individuals at all levels of the factory organization – owners, managers, supervisors, workers, and worker representatives.

Traceability: Supply Chain Mapping and Risk Assessment

Globalization has led to the emergence of low cost, efficient (and perhaps risky) supply chains spanning multiple countries. Sourcing regions exhibit a wide range of economic, political, social, labor and environmental standards, which – combined with heightened public awareness – means that full traceability of a product and its components is likely to become a consistent demand made by governments, civil society organizations, and consumers. In response, companies must make supply chain mapping and product tracing a standard business practice.

Pages

Subscribe to Special Projects