FLA celebrates 25 years of history and progress with new briefing

FLA published a briefing to commemorate its 25th anniversary, “Building a fair labor future: 25 years of the Fair Labor Association.” The briefing delves into FLA’s history, including its founding mission and unique multi-stakeholder perspective. It covers accomplishments throughout the decades, such as the launch of our Fair Labor Accreditation programs for manufacturing and agriculture companies, and outlines successes in key issue areas including child labor, living wage, and forced labor. The briefing concludes with calls to action for brands, unions, universities, and governments to ensure collective accountability.

An overview of FLA’s history and mission

In the late 1990s, following several high-profile labor abuses in apparel supply chains, President Bill Clinton brought together a diverse coalition of leaders from brands, the labor movement, and human rights organizations to devise a path forward, which in 1999 culminated in the creation of FLA.

Since then, FLA has worked toward a future where responsible business means that fair working conditions are the standard, not the exception. Its unique model of collaboration builds expertise and drives innovation to improve business policies and practices that benefit workers around the world. Today, FLA experts are featured at global events like COP28, the Economist Impact Summit, and more.

From developing rigorous accreditation programs that evaluate companies’ systems to protect workers throughout global supply chains, to launching award-winning living wage tools to support companies that want to fairly compensate their workers, FLA represents a future where all stakeholders have a seat at the table and are pursuing better outcomes for workers.

FLA’s 25th anniversary, in 2024, comes at a transformational time for human rights at work. The future of fair labor depends on today’s responses to new risks for workers, such as climate change, and rapid changes in the world of business and human rights, ranging from new mandatory due diligence regimes to advances in artificial intelligence.

Looking ahead, FLA’s 2023 – 2028 strategic plan keeps the organization focused on meeting today’s challenges by ensuring company performance to FLA standards, innovating solutions, understanding impact, and communicating effectively to a broader group of stakeholders.