Fair Food Program (FFP)Launched in Florida's tomato industry in 2011, FFP has been highly successful in partnering with big brands, including Taco Bell, McDonald's, Walmart, and Whole Foods to make substantial improvements to living wages, lower injury rates, reduced abuses (including sexual harassment), and elimination of extreme exploitation such as forced labour. It has since expanded to other US states, Chile, South Africa, and into multiple crops including cut flowers, sweet corn and berries.
Threadneedle Collaboration
Putting workers at the centre of improving labour standards in Bangladesh's garment industry.
What we do..
We identify the problem
We address harmful purchasing practices and the root causes that allow exploitation to exist.
We engage with key actors
We put workers at the centre of enforceable brand agreements through a proven Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) model.
We demonstrate what's possible
We show how this worker-led WSR approach can improve labour standards and strengthen supply chain resilience.
Why do we need WSR?
Despite good intentions, traditional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approaches have failed to address the root
causes of exploitation.
Research from Stanford, Yale, and Harvard has shown that CSR, social audits and third-party certifications typically sideline workers, offer unclear benefits for suppliers, and increase compliance costs without delivering real change. These models too often create the illusion of progress, fuelling complacency and undermining real reform.
In response to these failings, the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model has emerged as an effective way of protecting workers rights within global supply chains.
What is WSR?
Worker-driven Social Responsibility
is a model that protects worker rights within supply chains through
worker-driven enforcement and legally binding brand and supplier commitments.
By placing workers at the centre of oversight and enforcement, it transforms traditional supply chain dynamics and strengthens overall industry resilience.
Key Features of WSR
Worker-Driven
Labour Rights Initiatives
Delivers lasting improvements in conditions and dignity at work
Binding & Enforceable Obligations for Global Corporations
Ensures real accountability and drives systemic change
Buyers Provide Suppliers the Financial Support to Comply
Enables sustainable improvements without passing costs onto workers
Mandatory Consequences for
Non-Compliant Suppliers
Protects workers by ensuring that standards are upheld
Measurable and Timely
Gains for Workers
Guarantees that improvements are felt directly and without delay
Rigorous, Independent
Compliance Verification
Builds trust through transparency and credible oversight
Case Studies
Worker-driven Social Responsibility in action across different sectors and geographies.
Milk with DignityEstablished in 2017 in partnership with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Milk with Dignity has brought about significant improvements for Dairy farmworkers in the Northeastern US, including improved health and safety and minimum wage compliance, expanded paid sick leave, and prompt resolution of code violations.
Bangladesh AccordAfter the Rana Plaza Collapse in 2013, and drawing inspiration from the FFP, the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety was formed with over 200 international apparel brands. As a result, over 1,600 factories have seen major advances in building, electrical, and fire safety through binding agreements and robust monitoring.
Endorsements by Leading Organisations
WSR programs have been endorsed by:
UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights,
U.S. Departments of Labor, State, and Justice, and
Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and Harvard Universities,
- with Harvard Law's MSI Integrity Institute calling WSR
the "gold standard" for human rights in supply chains.
About Us
We are a team of Modern Slavery Experts and advisers intent on addressing the root causes of exploitation in global supply chains.
We recognise that if we don't respond to underlying drivers, exploitative practices within our economic system will persist.
We are...
Worker-Centred
We are fundamentally a worker-centred organisation - committed to elevating and centring workers' voices.
Collaborative
We work collaboratively, bringing together workers and brands to establish direct, accountable, and enforceable agreements that uphold standards defined by workers.
Evidence-driven
We learn from established models and draw on the expertise of industry specialists and academics.
Ambitious
We seek genuine, lasting change across the sector - aiming to not only address specific cases of abuse, but to prevent them entirely by removing the underlying conditions that permit exploitation.