Worker Rights Consortium

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The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) is an independent labor rights monitoring organization focused on protecting the rights of workers who sew apparel and make other products sold in the United States, particularly those bearing college or university logos. The WRC was founded in 2000 by student activists including members of United Students Against Sweatshops.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweatshop</span> Workplace that has socially unacceptable working conditions

A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, or uncomfortably/dangerously high or low temperatures. The work may be difficult, tiresome, dangerous, climatically challenging or underpaid. Workers in sweatshops may work long hours with unfair wages, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage; child labor laws may also be violated. Women make up 85 to 90% of sweatshop workers and may be forced by employers to take birth control and routine pregnancy tests to avoid supporting maternity leave or providing health benefits. The Fair Labor Association's "2006 Annual Public Report" inspected factories for FLA compliance in 18 countries including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Malaysia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, China, India, Vietnam, Honduras, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and the US. The U.S. Department of Labor's "2015 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor" found that "18 countries did not meet the International Labour Organization's recommendation for an adequate number of inspectors."

Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membership based on certain criteria. It can be described as the right of a person coming together with other individuals to collectively express, promote, pursue and/or defend common interests. Freedom of association is both an individual right and a collective right, guaranteed by all modern and democratic legal systems, including the United States Bill of Rights, article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and international law, including articles 20 and 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 22 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work by the International Labour Organization also ensures these rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Rally Championship</span> Rallying championship series, highest level of rallying competition

The World Rally Championship is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and teams. The series currently consists of 13 three to four-day rally events driven on surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice. Each rally is usually split into 15–25 special stages which are run against the clock on up to 350 kilometres of closed roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five College Consortium</span> Group of colleges in Western Massachusetts, US

The Five College Consortium comprises four liberal arts colleges and one university in the Connecticut River Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, totaling approximately 38,000 students. They are geographically close to one another and are linked by frequent bus service which operates between the campuses during the school year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accessibility</span> Modes of usability for people with disabilities

Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" and "indirect access" meaning compatibility with a person's assistive technology.

WRC may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Knight</span> American billionaire and co-founder of Nike

Philip Hampson Knight is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of October 3, 2022, Knight was ranked by Forbes as the 27th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$35.2 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika. Knight is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was in track and field club under coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon, with whom he would co-found Nike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junior World Rally Championship</span>

The FIA Junior World Rally Championship is an international rallying competition restricted to drivers under 29 years old. The championship consists of select rallies on the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar. The category has been a stepping stone in the career of WRC Champions Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier, as well as current drivers such as Dani Sordo, Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville. Junior WRC differs from other WRC championships as all cars are identical, provided and serviced by the same entity under contract to the FIA. The car used in 2022 is a Ford Fiesta Rally3. Championship titles are awarded to the winning Driver and Co-Driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WRC-TV</span> NBC TV station in Washington, D.C.

WRC-TV is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A Telemundo outlet WZDC-CD. WRC-TV and WZDC-CD share studios on Nebraska Avenue in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Northwest Washington. Through a channel sharing agreement, the stations transmit using WRC-TV's spectrum from a tower adjacent to their studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Ducks</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Oregon

The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. With eighteen varsity teams, Oregon is best known for its American football team and track and field program, which has helped Eugene gain a reputation as "Track Town, USA". Oregon's main rivalries are with the Oregon State Beavers and the Washington Huskies.

James Harris is an American communist politician and member of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was the party's candidate for President of the United States in 1996, receiving 8,463 votes, and again in 2000, receiving 7,378 votes. Harris also served as an alternate candidate for Róger Calero in 2004 and 2008 in states where Calero could not qualify for the ballot due to being born in Nicaragua. More recently Harris was the SWP candidate in the 2009 Los Angeles mayoral election, receiving 2,057 votes (0.89%).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union of UEA Students</span> Students union of the University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia Students' Union is the students' union of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. All students of the university and some INTO UEA students automatically become members of the Union, but do have the right to opt out of membership. Membership confers the ability to take part in the Union's activities such as Clubs and Societies, and being involved in the democratic processes of the Union. The Union is a democratic organisation run by its members via an elected student officer committee and student council. It is affiliated to the National Union of Students. The Union follows its constitution and its policies. in order to fulfill its purpose 'to enrich the life of every UEA student.'

WAAKE-UP! was a student and community coalition at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) active from 1998 to 2001. WAAKE-UP! adopted the motto "Action without Awareness is ignorant. Awareness without Action is immoral." WAAKE-UP! supported many progressive causes, but were best known for the "Sweatshop Campaign," demanding that University of Colorado apparel be made in factories supporting fair labor conditions, specifically those endorsed by the Worker Rights Consortium. The Sweatshop Campaign was not successful, but its goals were later fulfilled by WAAKE-UP!'s successor organizations, 180 at 11, CASA and WWJC. Like many other progressive organizations in Colorado their actions were recorded in the Denver Police Spy Files.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, formerly called the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is an umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups.

The Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) is a procurement standard proposed by the Worker Rights Consortium and United Students Against Sweatshops. The program was designed to promote the use by US universities of suppliers that make use of a defined set of fair labor practices.

Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network (BAYSWAN) is a non-profit organization in the San Francisco Bay Area which works to improve working conditions, increase benefits, and eliminate discrimination on behalf of individuals working within both legal and criminalized adult entertainment industries. The organization provides advice and information to social service, policy reformers, media outlets, politicians, including the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution and Commission on the Status of Women (COSW), and law enforcement agencies dealing with sex workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles</span> U.S. nonprofit organization

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, also known as CHIRLA, is a Los Angeles county-based organization focusing on immigrant rights. While the organization did evolve from a local level, it is now recognized at a national level. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles organizes and serves individuals, institutions and coalitions to build power, transform public opinion, and change policies to achieve full human, civil and labor rights. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles also has aided in passing new laws and policies to benefit the immigrant community regardless of documented status.

Nike, Inc. has been accused of using sweatshops and worker abuse to produce footwear and apparel in East Asia.

Alta Gracia Apparel is a living wage apparel company manufacturing that sells licensed collegiate and professional sports apparel to university bookstores and online retailers. Their factory, located in Villa Altagracia, Dominican Republic is the first and only verified Living Wage company of its kind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Students Against Sweatshops</span>

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is a student organization founded in 1998 with chapters at over 250 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In April 2000, USAS founded the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent monitoring organization that investigates labor conditions in factories that produce collegiate apparel all over the world. The WRC exacts an annual membership fee from participating universities, which is used to fund its monitoring work.

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