A Conversation with Ruoxu Wang

Leading up to FLA's 25th anniversary celebration this fall, each month we're sharing a one-on-one conversation with an FLA employee highlighting insights from their experience in the fair labor sector and their thoughts on the next 25 years of fair labor.

Ruoxu Wang started graduate school at Johns Hopkins University with an interest in human rights and the desire to work at a mission-driven organization. As fate would have it, Fair Labor Association (FLA) staff presented about their work (in particular, how supply chain evaluations and assessments can ensure social compliance) to Ruoxu’s Corporate Sustainability, Business and Human Rights course in her final semester; her interest was piqued.

Now, as FLA’s Senior Fair Compensation and Member Engagement Associate, her job involves more public speaking than she’d anticipated — a surprise she’s adjusted to with practice. In addition to speaking with companies, non-governmental organization and students on living wage works, Ruoxu works with FLA members on the FLA Fair Compensation program, and frequently presents country-specific living wage updates to support understanding of changes in manufacturing supply chains.

“I am grateful to be exposed to and learn from so many different stakeholders,” Ruoxu said, recognizing that students’ passion for labor rights offers hope and promise for the future.

Ruoxu credits FLA’s global presence as one key to its success. First, it allows staff to glean valuable knowledge in understanding governance structures and wage changes, as well as insight on the local labor challenges from an FLA colleague based, for example, in Türkiye or Indonesia. Second, the inherent diversity in the organization fosters a sense of mutual value and respect, which she appreciates and recognizes as crucial to productive collaboration in FLA’s focus areas.

Practitioner’s Perspective: The Future of Fair Labor

In looking ahead to the next quarter-century of fair compensation and living wage work, Ruoxu spoke about the importance of global agreements on fair labor and ensuring that workers in lower-income nations are protected under mandatory human rights due diligence legislation as countries and multistakeholder institutions begin to enact policies meant to improve working conditions.

Ruoxu named artificial intelligence (AI) as another burgeoning development with great potential for both much-need progress and harmful use. “We need to consider how AI will shape the role of workers in the apparel and garment industries, as well as how workers will deal with the transition and how companies will take responsibility for technological changes,” she advised. While AI could assist with wage data collection, it might also threaten personal data privacy and obscure the data’s transparency from workers, removing their collective bargaining leverage.

Beyond Business

“I didn’t realize [this is] a fun fact about me until I told other people,” Ruoxu said. The fun fact in question? Her name — or the meaning of it, to be precise. Chosen by her father based on the time of her birth, the two Chinese characters of Ruoxu’s name mean ‘like the sunrise.’ Appropriately, Ruoxu enjoyed the bright, warm weather of Southern California when she studied at UCLA. It was there that she began watching The Big Bang Theory to unwind on weekends, which quickly became her favorite show, and a mainstay for her through school life.

“[Being able to grow with the characters] helped me go through my journey as a student,” she said. Now, her comfort show is Crash Landing on You (a drama about a South Korean businesswoman and a North Korean army captain), with bubble tea and — most importantly — her red Shiba Inu, Churro, rounding out Ruoxu’s “must-have” list.