In our last column, we reviewed extant research that indicated no sustainable progress in labor conditions in global supply chains, particularly with regard to freedom of association, wages and other standards. So what explains the lack of progress? There are several horses in the race.
The first horse is “Wrong Solution.” Private regulation that allows brands to police their own labor practices is the wrong solution. It avoids or crowds out national regulation, as wells as organized workers and bargaining. The best solution gets national governments to write and act out good labor laws.
The second horse is “Not Trying Hard Enough.” Companies are not serious about private regulation. Many adopt policies but do not implement them; in academic circles we call this ‘symbolic adoption’ or ‘policy-practice decoupling.’
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Scored version of Higg FSLM launched
Higg Co and Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) in partnership with Social Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) in October launched a scored version of Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM). Now brands can retire independent proprietary tools and be part of an industrywide effort to standardise facility auditing for social and labour issues. The Higg FSLM leverages the SLCP Converged Assessment Framework as its foundation. The Higg FSLM now provides judgement information, eliminating the need for brands to conduct individual audits to assess facilities’ performance, and Higg Index scoring enables comparability of the data. The score is out of 100 and covers issues like handling grievances, respectful treatment of workers, and child labour practices.