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.

post

page

attachment

revision

nav_menu_item

custom_css

customize_changeset

oembed_cache

user_request

wp_block

wp_template

wp_template_part

wp_global_styles

wp_navigation

wp_font_family

wp_font_face

acf-field-group

acf-field

ai1ec_event

Investor Toolkit On Human Rights
COVID-19 resourcesPublications

Among countless severe consequences, the current international COVID-19 emergency has created a global financial crisis of a scale rarely encountered in modern history. Systemic economic and social inequalities across societies are being laid bare a...Read More

Royal Commission of Inquiry Report on the Discovery of Transit Camps and Graves at Wang Kelian, Perlis
Publications

The discovery of the camps and graves at Wang Kelian, Perlis, garnered the attention of many and stunned the nation. These camps and graves on the border of Malaysia and Thailand gave rise to an outcry that resulted in the competency of the enforcem...Read More

TAGS: Asia
National Hotline 2019 Kansas 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

No Worker Left Behind: Protecting Vulnerable Workers From Exploitation During and After the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic
COVID-19 resourcesPublications

This briefing examines the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the risk of labour exploitation in low-paid and insecure employment in the UK. Drawing on interviews with workers and frontline services, it proposes emergency measures to ensure all w...Read More

TAGS: Europe