If you know of other organizations which might want to sign on, please pass the letter along to them. The letter argues that monitoring, in order to be truly independent, must be carried out by local human rights and religious organizations. Campaign for Labor Rights notes that the issue of independent monitoring is complex and still much under discussion. Human rights advocates should help create an opening in which workers can form independent labor unions. The empowerment of workers, who are their own best advocates, ought to be the central goal of the labor rights movement.
Independent monitoring is one means toward that end.
With that caveat, Campaign for Labor Rights shares the National Labor Committee's deep concern about the prospect of monitoring conducted by for-profit companies, such as accounting firms, or by other agencies which do not have the confidence of the workers whose conditions are being monitored. The National Labor Committee recently published an important report on conditions in factories in China producing clothing and shoes for the U.S. market. Another area of critical concern for us is respect for human and worker rights in China. China has 4 million apparel workers, and 44,000 apparel operations. It is a big country, with 1.2 billion people, speaking three major dialects.