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SGMA participates in social responsibility conference
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Posted on Nov 23 1999
As part of continuing efforts to improve the local garment industry, the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association was represented recently at a major international conference dealing with corporate responsibility in San Francisco.
Sponsored by the San Francisco-based Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), the conference drew nearly 1,000 participants from all over the world.
“The conference topics included promoting corporate compliance with lawful and ethical working conditions and innovative approaches to monitoring for compliance,” said SGMA executive director Richard A Pierce. “These topics are especially timely for us since we will start independent monitoring by PricewaterhouseCoopers of our 32 member factories next week.”
SGMA has worked extensively with conference organizers in the past. BSR conducted a series of training sessions earlier this year to implement the principles set forth in the SGMA Code of Conduct.
Introduced in December 1998, the SGMA Code of Conduct was patterned after the Clinton Administration’s Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP). The code encompasses high international standards for fair and humane treatment of workers and working conditions; standards for living conditions; fundamental rights of employees; standards for transshipment and country of origin of garments; and compliance and enforcement principles.
‘Our attendance at the BSR conference will help give rise to our next level of SGMA member firm compliance with the Code, local and federal laws,” said Mr. Pierce. “It also guarantees that the largest international and national retailers will continue to use Saipan manufacturers as the source from apparel they’ve come to recognize as some of the world’s finest quality for consumers the world over.”
