...Apple has opened the doors of its troubled Chinese factories to inspection by labor investigators. Now not only Apple but its proposed monitor, the Fair Labor Association, are coming under scrutiny: Observers are challenging whether the FLA, which has corporate members and accepts corporate funding, can really be independent and deliver the bad news and sanctions those same companies might deserve. This...important conversation...is not a new one. “Multistakeholder initiatives”...have proven extremely useful in tackling complex problems that no one party could solve alone...In the absence of legislation at the national and global level that is robust and enforced, initiatives like the FLA are one of the best solutions we have for establishing clear standards for companies’ behavior and assessing their compliance...At the same time, they all have struggled with their governance arrangements...The question, then, is how to make sure that groups like the FLA are effective...Any conflicts that arise from funding [by companies] should be countered with transparency and equitable rules.