Corporations have increasingly turned to voluntary, multi-stakeholder governance programs to monitor workers’ rights and standards in global supply chains. This article argues that the emphasis of these programs varies significantly depending on stakeholder involvement and issue areas under examination. Corporate-influenced programs are more likely to emphasize detection of violations of minimal standards in the areas of wages, hours, and occupational safety and health because focusing on these issues provides corporations with legitimacy and reduces the risks of uncertainty created by activist campaigns. In contrast, these programs are less likely to emphasize workers’ rights to form democratic and independent unions, bargain, and strike because these rights are perceived as lessening managerial control without providing firms with significant reputational value. This argument is explored by coding 805 factory audits of the Fair Labor Association between 2002 and 2010, followed by case studies of Russell Athletic in Honduras, Apple in China, and worker rights monitoring in Vietnam.

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Gender
Publications

Edited by Sam Okyere and Prabha Kotiswaran. This is the eighth volume of the series Beyond Trafficking and Slavery Short Course. Women and girls, 'new abolitionists' say, are disproportionately affected by trafficking because of their preval...Read More

National Hotline 2019 Nevada State Report
Graphics & InfographicsPublications

The data in this report represents signals and cases from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 and is accurate as of July 30, 2020. Cases of trafficking may be ongoing or new information may revealed to the National Hotline over time. Consequen...Read More

The new slavery: Kenyan workers in the Middle East
Publications

Written by Mohamed Daghar. In September 2014 Kenya banned the exportation of labour to the Middle East because workers were being trafficked by criminal networks offering them jobs. This policy brief focuses on the criminals who continue to driv...Read More

Uncalculated Risks: Threats and Attacks Against Human Rights Defenders and the Role of Development Financiers
Publications

Inclusive and sustainable development requires an environment where all people are free to express their views, to exercise their rights, and to fully participate in the decisions impacting their lives and their communities. Every day, indigenous p...Read More

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