Glossary

Glossary-

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)- a 501(3)c - non-profit organization - composed of students that wishes to strike change in the way apparel is manufactured. The organization is 10 years old and was born out of anti-globalization/alter-globalization efforts. In 2000, the United Students Against Sweatshops founded the Worker's Rights Consortium. In 2005, the United Students Against Sweatshops created the Designated Supplier's Proposal.

Humboldt United Students Against Sweatshops (HUSAS)- an officially USAS-affiliated club on HSU campus. Founded in Spring of 2007 by Bonnie Stewart.

Worker's Rights Consortium (WRC)- A monitoring organization that provides independent monitoring services for Universities. They are funded through grants, donations, and universities and have no monetary ties to trans-national corporations or for-profit corporations.

Designated Supplier's Proposal (DSP)- Also known as the Designated Supplier's Program- the Designated Supplier's Proposal was originally created to help enforce the actions of the Worker's Rights Consortium. Imagine the WRC as a dis-incentive for apparel corporations and factories to cooperate with- due to their strict rules about human rights in the workplace. As such, the Designated Supplier's Proposal uses the leverage that universities have to act as an incentive for corporations and factories to comply.

Monitoring Organization- A monitoring organization is a non-profit organization, many founded by apparel corporations, to both monitor the activities that go on in factories as well as work with factories to enforce human rights.

Code of Conduct- Essentially, a code of conduct provides ethical rules for factories to comply with in order to improve the lives of factory laborers.

Fair Labor Association (FLA)- Perhaps the largest "rival" to the Worker's Rights Consortium. Although neither directly competes with each other, the Fair Labor Association and the Worker's Rights Consortium are often at odds with each other. The United Students Against Sweatshops feels that the Fair Labor Association has many flaws including a weak code on women's rights and a lack of transparency.

Freedom of Association- Freedom of association means that worker's in factories have the ability to discuss plans, work together, and organize together to demand rights from factory owners. Sometimes, freedom of association implies the formation of trade unions, however there are not necessarily any causal relationships between the two.

Transparency- Transparency is the ability to know which factories produce which university's apparel. In addition, true transparency requires that factory assessments and reports should be publicly available. As such, the WRC discloses its factory assessments on their website.