Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production
Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP) describes itself as being "dedicated to the certification of lawful, humane and ethical manufacturing throughout the world." [1]
Former Directors
"Otto Reich is the vice chairman of Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production or WRAP, a clothing-industry front founded about a year ago to undermine the growing antisweatshop movement. Reich joined WRAP at its inception, associating himself with an operation that connects some of the unsavory elements of the cold war with a new, PR-driven approach to sustaining nonunion sweatshop production."
"WRAP, the creation of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, purports to be a global network that monitors labor conditions in garment factories around the world. According to AAFA chairman William Compton, speaking at the International Apparel Federation Conference, "The best way to achieve (better working conditions in factories) is through our commitment to a comprehensive and independent factory certification program like WRAP," Alec Dubro wrote in The Nation. [2]
"Exactly why Otto Reich is serving as WRAP's vice chairman isn't too clear. He has no background in either the apparel industry or promoting worker rights. What he does have, however, is a connection to WRAP's peculiar leadership. WRAP's chairman, Joaquin "Jack" Otero (Joaquin Otero), former AFL-CIO executive council member, was a leading light in the 1990 Labor Committee for a Free Cuba, which received US government funding through the AFL's American Institute for Free Labor Development. AIFLD was one of the AFL-CIO's cold war overseas institutes, set up to fight communism by fighting communist-influenced unions around the world. It had close connections to the CIA and was funded by the US government--mostly through USAID--and during the 1980s and 1990s it also received funds from the National Endowment for Democracy. AIFLD was headed by William Doherty Jr. His son, Lawrence, who also worked for AIFLD, is now the executive director of WRAP. Lawrence describes himself as a former "labor guy," although what labor work he did other than run AIFLD programs in Latin America is not on his bio." [3]
Current 2006 Directors
- Charles C. Masten - Chairman - Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor (Retired)
- Steven A. Jesseph - Vice Chairman, President and CEO - Vice President, Compliance and Risk Management, Sara Lee Branded Apparel (Retired)
- Thomas F. Austin - Treasurer - President Operating Services Division, Kellwood Inc. (Retired)
- Candace Cummings - Secretary - Vice President-Administration, General Counsel and Secretary, VF Corporation
- Mark Jaeger - Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Jockey International
- James Oldham - St. Thomas More Professor of Law & Legal History, Georgetown University Law Center
- Kevin F. F. Quigley - President, National Peace Corps Association
- Margaret Blair - Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University
- Alan G. Hassenfeld - Chairman, Hasbro Inc.
- William S. Reese - President and Chief Executive Officer, International Youth Foundation
Contact details
2200 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 601
Arlington, VA 22201
Tel. 703.243.0970
Fax. 703.243.8247
Email: info AT wrapapparel.org
Web: http://www.wrapapparel.org/
External links
- Alec Dubro, "Otto Reich, WRAP Star", The Nation, April 17, 2001.
