Henrik N. Dullea, Cornell vice president for university relations, has been elected to the University Advisory Council executive committee of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which works to improve workplace conditions in factories around the world.
The 17-member executive committee is made up of representatives of universities nationwide and licensing companies. Other members include Robert Durkee of Princeton, Carol Kaesebier of Notre Dame, Elizabeth Kennedy of the University of California-Los Angeles and Craig Westemeier of the University of Texas-Austin.
"The role of the University Advisory Council is to make sure that the views of the many concerned students, faculty and staff throughout the United States who are determined to improve the working conditions in which laborers produce clothing, hats, shoes and other articles of apparel carrying the names of their colleges and universities will be heard by the full FLA board of directors and reflected in FLA policies," Dullea said.
Cornell is a founding member of the FLA, a collaboration of companies, human rights and labor rights organizations and 160 colleges and universities. It currently has 13 participating companies that contract with more than 4,000 factories in 75 countries and represent more than $30 billion in apparel and footwear sales. Companies participating in the FLA process make a commitment to implement a workplace code of conduct that prohibits forced labor, child labor, harassment or abuse, and discrimination. The code requires high health and safety standards, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, and establishes standards for payment of wages and benefits.
In addition to the FLA, Cornell is a member of the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), which also monitors workplace conditions throughout the world.
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