Ratcheting Labor Standards: How Open Competition Can Save Ethical Sourcing

Archon Fung, Financial Times Op-Ed, Dara O'Rourke, Financial Times Op-Ed, and Charles Sabel, Financial Times Op-Ed

5/16/2008
(Original Publish Date: 3/1/2000)

The transformations of the global economy that deliver higher quality and cheaper products can also lead to unacceptable conditions of work: exploitation of child labor, dangerous environments, punishing hours, starvation wages, discrimination, and suppression of workers’ rights. Government has been slow to respond. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have reacted more quickly, by establishing corporate codes of conduct and auditing protocols to determine whether firms actually comply with those codes. Some multinational corporations have responded to the demands of angry and skeptical publics by volunteering to respect a code of their own or an NGO and sometimes by allowing outsiders to verify compliance.