The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) was created by United Students Against Sweatshops as an alternative to the Fair Labor Association for universities and colleges. The WRC is a consortium of 150 US universities that have adopted codes of conduct for university-licensed products. Companies may not join the WRC, but companies are subject to WRC verification if they are licensees for a university or college that is a member of the WRC.

Codes of WRC member universities must meet the standards of the WRC code, which includes provisions for a living wage, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and protection of women's rights.

Licensees are required to publicly disclose the locations of production facilities, as well as wages, benefits, average hours of work, and workplace policies.

Verification of code compliance relies on a worker and third-party complaints system.

Recently, the WRC has begun code compliance verification for some municipalities and school boards on a pilot-project basis.

For more information on the WRC, visit: www.workersrights.org.