Lehigh University’s Trademarks and Licensing Office, in partnership with the Office of Sustainability, is pleased to announce that Lehigh University is now part of the Workers’ Rights Consortium. The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) is an independent labor rights monitoring organization. The WRC investigates working conditions in factories around the globe. The purpose is to document and combat sweatshop conditions; identify and expose the practices of global brands and retailers that perpetuate labor rights abuses; and protect the rights of workers who make apparel and other products. Learn more at www.workersrights.org
Each of the University’s licensed vendors currently signs a contract with a code of conduct built in, but we believe this will go one step further in ensuring fair and safe working conditions. Our WRC affiliation is part of the Office of Sustainability’s Campus Sustainability Plan 2020 and a component of Lehigh's annual AASHE STARS report.
Questions? Please contact the Trademarks and Licensing Office at mos513@lehigh.edu.
More about the WRC...
Established in 2000, the WRC provides support to over 175 colleges and universities seeking to promote workers’ rights and improve labor practices in factories that make university-related apparel. The WRC actively works to combat sweatshops and operates as an independent monitoring organization conducting investigations into the working conditions of factories around the globe.
The WRC strives to assist colleges and universities in advancing their CR initiatives and promoting labor rights. They conduct investigations and assessments of factories involved in the production of collegiate licensed merchandise and provide colleges and universities with detailed reports for these assessments and investigations. The WRC also provides further educational and informative resources and gives colleges and universities an opportunity to engage on the issue of labor code compliance and workers’ rights. Furthermore, affiliation and engagement with the WRC shows a genuine commitment to the promotion of workers’ rights and efforts to seek out long term solutions for labor abuses.