November 2016

The Freedom of Association Protocol…is a multi-party agreement… It was developed in the context of a…global campaign to persuade sportswear brands to uphold workers’ rights in their supply chains. Although institutionally fragile, the Protocol is highly unusual among the non-judicial mechanisms we studied in that it has resulted in significant improvements in respect for trade union rights in a number of factories that we investigated… Worker representatives have also been active decision-makers and participants in the design, dissemination, implementation and governance of the Protocol.  This has contributed to relatively high levels of local stakeholder ownership of the Protocol…While a number of brands and suppliers have exhibited significant commitment to the Protocol process, its implementation has been far from uniform…Without sustained monitoring, particularly from international labour rights networks…the incentives for some brands to stay involved and to persuade their suppliers to continuously improve compliance may diminish…

[Also refers to Nike, Adidas, Puma, Pentland and New Balance.]