NEW YORK, NY - Social Accountability International will convene its seventh annual Conference "Beyond Compliance: Innovative Strategies for Responsible Sourcing" on September 19, 2005 in New York City. SAI convenes its annual conference to provide a forum for exchange among key stakeholders on issues that are most important to improving and maintaining socially responsible workplaces in factories and on farms around the world. For additional details, visit: www.sa-intl.org/conference.

The conference, held in the Harvard Club of New York City, will feature corporate, NGO, government, and trade union leaders from around the work, including Franco Furno, Worldwide Director of Human Resources, Gucci (Italy); Amy Hall, Social Consciousness Director, Eileen Fisher, Inc. (US); Dan Henkle, Vice President of Global Compliance, Gap, Inc., (US); Neil Kearney, General Secretary, International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers' Federation (Belgium); Dusty Kidd, Vice President, Compliance, Nike Inc., (US); Dan Rees, Director, Ethical Trading Initiative, (UK); Bharat Wakhlu, President, Tata Inc. (India), Lynda Yanz, Coordinator, Maquila Solidarity Network, (Canada); German Zepeda, President, COSIBAH (Honduras) and many more.

Alice Tepper Marlin, President and CEO of Social Accountability International said, "In the increasingly connected and fluid global economy, achieving just and decent working conditions for all is a shared responsibility. SAI's mission is to bring together experts from across sectors and around the world to address this goal in a systematic and pragmatic way. Our annual conference is a critical part of this international, multi-sector approach and presents a great opportunity to help bring about the broad consensus that this global issue demands."

The conference will be followed by a cocktail reception, benefit dinner, and silent auction at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The dinner will feature speakers from the corporate social responsibility industry. We are privileged to have Dr. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2001 winner Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, deliver the keynote address on the importance of responsible global sourcing. He will be joined by Fernando Aguirre, Chairman & CEO, Chiquita Brands International and Tensie Whelan, Executive Director, Rainforest Alliance. Lynn Sherr, author & ABC News Correspondent, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

Social Accountability International (SAI) is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to improving workplaces and communities by developing and implementing socially responsible standards. To accomplish this, SAI convenes key stakeholders to develop consensus-based voluntary standards; accredits qualified organizations to verify compliance; promotes such standards though capacity building programs in developing countries and training for workers, managers, and auditors worldwide. SAI employs a multi-stakeholder approach to promote transparency, credibility, and the implementation of verifiable systems. In 1996, SAI convened an international multi-stakeholder Advisory Board to develop Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000), a voluntary standard for workplaces based international Labor Organization and other human rights conventions. Its independent verifications system draws many key elements form the widely accepted quality management system certification in the ISO programs. Businesses in 45 countries and in 52 industries are already certified to the SA8000 standard, employing more than 436,000 workers. Thousands more have started implementing SA8000 and are working towards full compliance. For further information about SAI, please visit: www.sa-intl.org.

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