Freedom of Association
Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO.) strongly supports a worker's right to establish and join organizations of his or her own choosing, including unions. We see this as a fundamental right and refer to it in our Terms of Engagement (TOE) as "freedom of association."
In a number of countries, regardless of local labor law requirements, the right to freely associate is not widely observed. In recent years, we have seen the right to freedom of association challenged by management in factories in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Mexico. We have worked with a number of stakeholders, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and trade unions, to address the issues with factory management. In most cases, we have been able to achieve successful resolution, such as with a supplier in Thailand (as described by the Workers' Rights Consortium). In exceptional cases, we ended our business relationship with suppliers who would not meet the freedom of association provisions of our TOE.
We also source from China — a country in which freedom of association issues can be particularly challenging because the Chinese government controls the only sanctioned union for apparel workers.
To strengthen our guidance on freedom of association, we revised the TOE freedom of association provisions in 2005 using the Ethical Trading Initiative's freedom of association guidelines as a baseline and incorporating the advice of leading labor and human rights organizations (see p. 22, TOE Guidebook). We included language enabling the development of lawful "parallel means" for independent free association and bargaining.
To further support workers in China, the Levi Strauss Foundation funds targeted education programs that have, to date, assisted hundreds of thousands of migrant women workers with workplace rights and health and safety issues. We also develop and support worker health and safety committees and facilitate meetings between the committees and factory management.
Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations provided training to our TOE managers. LS&CO. developed locally-tailored freedom of association training and educational presentations for external monitors and suppliers around the world on our strengthened guidance and our expectations of suppliers in this area.
We understand that the right to freely associate and organize is an issue where there remains significant historical, social and legal obstacles. We endeavor to work with our suppliers, governments, other companies and interested stakeholders to uphold these rights for all workers.
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