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GAP Inc.
CREA has collaborated with other concerned organizations in dialogue and action with the GAP since 1996. The following excerpt is from GAP's Social Responsibility Report, released in 2004.
"In 1995 the National Labor Committee (NLC), a New York-based workers' rights groups, reported alarming abuses at the Mandarin International Factory in El Salvador. We dispatched employees to investigate and they returned with firsthand accounts of low pay, excessive overtime and reported union-busting. Most apparel brands and retailers doing business with the manufacturer stopped production and left.
"Concerned labor organizations challenged us to take a different approach. They encourage us to keep production in the factory and work with them to improve conditions. We chose to be part of the solution, instead of just leaving the problem behind.
" We collaborated with three NGOs - Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), the Center for Reflection, Education and Action (CREA), and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) - to form the Independent Monitoring Working Group (IMWG). The IMWG engaged the Grupo de Monitoreo Independiente de El Salvador (GMIES), a group of representatives from Salvadorean civil society who sought to help workers in the maquila sector. The effort marked the beginning of the first independent monitoring program in El Salvador and in the apparel industry globally.
"As we learned the benefits of independent monitoring, we expanded the program to Guatemala in 2000, Honduras and Nicaragua in 2002, and Kenya in 2003...
"...Our experience at Mandarin and beyond has taught us that change doesn't happen overnight. But we have learned that real effort does yield real progress. Through continued collaboration with independent monitoring groups, we will strive to continue taking steps forward.". (page 20, GAO Inc. 2003)
In 2003 and 2004, CREA collaborated with GAP as a member of the Public Reporting Working Group, which assisted the corporation in the development of its Social Responsibility Report, the first such report in the apparel industry. The group included representatives from Domini Social Investments, Calvert Group, As You Sow Foundation and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
Copyright © 2005 CREA, Inc. All Rights Reserved