International Labor Standards

Disney’s International Labor Standards (ILS) program evaluates and helps address working conditions in facilities producing Disney-branded products. These facilities are not owned or controlled by Disney but are engaged by the independent licensees and vendors with whom we do business. Disney’s ILS program is administered by a dedicated staff of approximately 75 professionals located in 12 countries around the world.

Our ILS program has three main goals:

1. Foster safe, inclusive and respectful workplaces wherever Disney-branded products are manufactured
2. Achieve greater visibility into our business relationships in order to mitigate risk for ourselves and others, proactively identify areas of concern and develop solutions, promote sustainable practices, and support value creation
3. Work cooperatively with governments, civil society organizations and other brands to make progress in addressing issues contributing to poor working conditions

Since our ILS program was created in 1996, it has evolved along with the increasing demands of our business, the expectations of our varied stakeholders, and changing industry thought on the application of labor standards. Like many companies that started similar programs in the 1990s, we initially focused on establishing a core set of standards, working with licensees, vendors and facilities to promote the implementation of these standards and assessing compliance. All of these actions provide us with insight into common labor problems at facilities around the world as well as issues specific to particular countries and regions.

In operating our ILS program, we realize there are limits to a traditional focus on monitoring activities to promote improvement in working conditions around the world. Many of the systemic issues contributing to poor working conditions are beyond Disney’s control. In addition, the characteristics of the supply chain for Disney-branded products, with its very large number of independent licensees, vendors and manufacturing facilities, present unique challenges in achieving sustainable results.

The magnitude, complexity and pervasiveness of these limitations do not deter us from embracing our responsibility and working toward our goals. We continue to regularly monitor compliance and work toward ongoing and sustainable improvement in working conditions through the refinement of traditional compliance approaches and the development of new methods as well as the alignment of our own business operations. We also aim to identify and understand the root causes of the problem by working cooperatively whenever possible with external stakeholders and other brands and dedicating resources to activities that we believe may lead generally to improved conditions. We are committed to reporting regularly on our performance and progress on labor standards.

Learn more about Facility Information, Monitoring, and Remediation. 

Learn more about External Stakeholder Engagement.

Learn more about Forced Labor and Human Trafficking.