ABSTRACT

Karl Marx's theory of alienation goes deeper than workers achieving mere wage increases and working fewer hours. Marxists argue that capitalist society breeds inequality and masks that inequality through mechanisms that seem neutral, such as the law. Marx outlines that workers become alienated from their own work product, from their co-workers, from management and ultimately from themselves. Codes of conduct allow for greater flexibility as workers could be involved at the initial negotiation stage and on to drafting. The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) is an independent labour rights monitoring agency. The WRC provides a model Code of Conduct on its website. The Fair Labor Association (FLA) was started in 1999 with the involvement of companies which is in contrast to the WRC which does not include corporate involvement. The FLA is a brand accountability system that places the onus on companies to voluntarily achieve the FLA's labor standards in the factories manufacturing their products.