Pilot report reveals complexity of factory monitoring

Findings from a pilot project that inspected workplace standards of makers of university licensed goods reveal the complexity of ensuring those standards are met, university officials say.

“The pilot project was designed to give us a better understanding of the logistics and difficulties of global inspection and monitoring, so that we are more prepared to accurately evaluate potential strategies for preventing university licensed merchandise from being produced under sweatshop conditions,” says Casey Nagy, special assistant to Provost John Wiley.

UW–Madison participated in the pilot monitoring project with Boston College, Duke University, Georgetown University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California.

Five U.S. companies took part in the pilot project: College Concepts, Gear for Sports, Jansport, M.J. Soffe, and Zephyr Graf-X. Each company manufactures university-licensed merchandise and chose one factory to be inspected, located in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Korea, Mexico and Taiwan.

The report findings show that most workers interviewed expressed satisfaction with their jobs. Employees were interviewed both on the job and off site to account for possible discomfort of talking to auditors.

There was no evidence found that workers were paid below minimum wage or forced to work more than 60 hours a week, although not all workers were aware of overtime pay. There was also no evidence of child labor or forced labor, and limited evidence of sexual harassment or discrimination, mainly in the form of pregnancy testing.

Most locations, however, were reported to have health and safety concerns, such as poor ventilation, temperature, sanitation and fire safety. And only two of the factories posted workplace codes of conduct, local labor laws or personnel policies, although most factories either provided personnel policies in printed form or explained them to employees.

Results on the right of workers to organize were mixed: Some workers were aware of their rights and had organized, but others either did not know or were prevented from organizing by management.

“The findings indicate both compliance with and resistance to workplace standards, which is important to understand as we continue to move toward the goal of full compliance for our licensees,” Nagy says. “We realize these problems will not be solved overnight, and it is helpful to obtain some on-site data about the most difficult issues.”

The factory audits took place in fall 1999 and spring 2000. Inspectors and factory management agreed to a five-part approach that included an initial audit; communication of results to licensees (with a three-month time period given to respond); documentation of factory responses by licensees; reaudit; and summary. Only the El Salvador factory did not allow a reaudit.

The Collegiate Licensing Company, which helps administer trademark licensing at more than 180 colleges and universities, coordinated the pilot project for the universities. Verite, a non-profit global monitoring firm, was hired to conduct the audits.

Verite uses field-based international auditors connected with human rights and non-governmental organizations to perform the audits. The auditors understand local regulations and industry practices and speak local languages.

The audits measured compliance with local laws, labor code standards from the Collegiate Licensing Company, and Verite guidelines developed out of International Labor Organization standards, Occupational Safety and Health Administration data, and international labor and human rights standards.

UW–Madison has implemented its own set of workplace standards that call for full public disclosure of manufacturing locations, the study of living wages, and protecting the rights of all workers, especially women. The university is also a conditional member of the Worker Rights Consortium.

Because the companies agreed to voluntarily participate in the pilot monitoring project, the specific location of the factories is not identified. In each instance, the licensee’s business was only a small fraction of the overall business volume conducted at the participating factory.

The participating universities agreed that they were more interested in free access to data as part of the pilot project than seeking to regulate any specific factory location, Nagy says.

“That challenge remains for all institutions pushing for compliance and workplace standards,” he says.