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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Labour on a Shoestring: The Realities of Working in Europe’s Shoe Manufacturing Peripheries in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia
Publications

Often consumers in Western Europe believe that “Made in Europe” is a synonym for working conditions that are better than in production countries in Asia. This report shows that this is not always the case, and that problematic working conditions...Read More

TAGS: Europe
Regulation of Child Online Sexual Abuse: Legal Analysis of International Laws & Comparative Legal Analysis
Publications

This research study addresses legal issues around child online protection and the herewith related risk of becoming a victim of online sexual exploitation, in particular child pornography or online grooming.  It serves as a supplementary gui...Read More

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Publications

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TAGS:
Modern Slavery Act 2015 – Impact on Supply Chains and the role of Procurement and Actions Required to Support the Organisation (CIPS)
Publications

The UK Modern Slavery Act came into force in 2015. The insight gives an overview of the Act, focusing on the impact on supply chains and the role of procurement and actions required to support the organizations. The document also makes reference to o...Read More