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Handbook on Globalisation and Labour Standards
This comprehensive Handbook explores the complex and volatile debate over globalisation and labour standards. It offers key insights into the impact of globalisation on workers, the obligations of corporations and international legal bodies in protecting workers’ rights and maximising the opportunities offered by international trade and investment.
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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
This comprehensive Handbook explores the complex and volatile debate over globalisation and labour standards. It offers key insights into the impact of globalisation on workers, the obligations of corporations and international legal bodies in protecting workers’ rights and maximising the opportunities offered by international trade and investment.
Multidisciplinary contributions illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of globalisation for labour standards, demonstrating the limitations of recent initiatives to improve working conditions. The chapters pay close attention to the buying practices of multinational corporations at the top of global value chains, the priorities of which too often diverge from the codes of corporate social responsibility, as well as the inadequate actions of national governments in enforcing labour standards, including through trade agreements and sanctions.
Offering an impressive overview of the key actors in the protection of workers’ rights, the Handbook provides an essential reference point and research agenda for scholars and researchers of global economics and labour policy, highlighting crucial gaps in the field that are in need of further study. Its practical, empirical insights will also benefit practitioners and policy-makers working in human rights and labour advocacy, as well as trade specialists and political and economic commentators.
Multidisciplinary contributions illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of globalisation for labour standards, demonstrating the limitations of recent initiatives to improve working conditions. The chapters pay close attention to the buying practices of multinational corporations at the top of global value chains, the priorities of which too often diverge from the codes of corporate social responsibility, as well as the inadequate actions of national governments in enforcing labour standards, including through trade agreements and sanctions.
Offering an impressive overview of the key actors in the protection of workers’ rights, the Handbook provides an essential reference point and research agenda for scholars and researchers of global economics and labour policy, highlighting crucial gaps in the field that are in need of further study. Its practical, empirical insights will also benefit practitioners and policy-makers working in human rights and labour advocacy, as well as trade specialists and political and economic commentators.
Critical Acclaim
‘In this well-structured Handbook, Elliott has masterfully pulled together case studies and interdisciplinary reflections on globalisation and labour issues from the perspectives of business, economics, labour relations, international law, political science and sociology. The resulting volume provides a better understanding of the functioning of global value chains and the roles of public and private actors. Calling for more empirical work, the book points to the policy changes needed to arrive at improved working conditions worldwide.’
– Anne Trebilcock, Georg-August University, Germany, and former ILO Legal Adviser
‘This Handbook on Globalisation and Labour Standards is novel, engaging and manages to offer a coherent approach to a controversial topic, while also presenting diverse perspectives. It begins by identifying contemporary challenges to international labour standards in the context of globalisation, and then proceeds to analyse public, private and multi-stakeholder initiatives designed to address these. In this way, the editor, Kimberly Ann Elliott, has collated an exciting array of essays. The contributions come from leading experts, with each chapter offering original observations on a key issue. In short, this Handbook provides an invaluable resource for policy-making, teaching and further research in a field of study which is of ever-increasing importance.’
– Tonia Novitz, University of Bristol, UK
– Anne Trebilcock, Georg-August University, Germany, and former ILO Legal Adviser
‘This Handbook on Globalisation and Labour Standards is novel, engaging and manages to offer a coherent approach to a controversial topic, while also presenting diverse perspectives. It begins by identifying contemporary challenges to international labour standards in the context of globalisation, and then proceeds to analyse public, private and multi-stakeholder initiatives designed to address these. In this way, the editor, Kimberly Ann Elliott, has collated an exciting array of essays. The contributions come from leading experts, with each chapter offering original observations on a key issue. In short, this Handbook provides an invaluable resource for policy-making, teaching and further research in a field of study which is of ever-increasing importance.’
– Tonia Novitz, University of Bristol, UK
Contributors
Contributors: Mark Anner, Ana Antolin, Laura Babbitt, Jennifer Bair, Stephanie Barrientos, Tim Bartley, Janice R. Bellace, Tequila J. Brooks, Drusilla Brown, Steve Charnovitz, Lance Compa, Gelaye Debebe, Janelle M. Diller, Eric V. Edmonds, Kimberly Ann Elliott, Colin Fenwick, Sangeeta Khorana, Kevin Kolben, David Kucera, Kimberly A. Nolan García, Hanna C. Norberg, Layna Mosley, Sandra Polaski, Evgeny Postnikov, Damian Raess, Kenneth A. Reinert, Oda T. Reinert, Raymond Robertson, Dora Sari, Sanchita Banerjee Saxena, Elyse Voegeli, Zahra Yusifli
Contents
Contents:
1 Handbook on globalisation and labour: introduction and overview 1
Kimberly Ann Elliott
PART I INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS UNDER GLOBALISATION
2 Globalization and freedom of association and collective bargaining rights 13
David Kucera and Dora Sari
3 Globalization and the persistence of forced labor and child labor 36
Eric V. Edmonds
4 Work, gender and discrimination in global production 65
Stephanie Barrientos
5 Protecting the vulnerable: migration, work and human rights due diligence 85
Janelle M. Diller
6 Workers’ rights and human rights: toward a new fundamental principle? 108
Zahra Yusifli and Colin Fenwick
7 Human resource management and abuse in global supply chains 127
Laura Babbitt, Drusilla Brown, Ana Antolin and Elyse Voegeli
8 Prospects for labor-related upgrading in global supply chains 143
Layna Mosley
PART II PUBLIC APPROACHES TO PROTECTING LABOUR
STANDARDS UNDER GLOBALISATION
9 Sovereignty and the ILO 167
Steve Charnovitz
10 The 1998 ILO Declaration: responding to globalization and impacting
corporate labor behavior 184
Janice R. Bellace
11 The strategy and politics of linking trade and labor standards: an
overview of issues and approaches 204
Sandra Polaski
12 Evidence on the impact of labor provisions in preferential trade agreements 227
Damian Raess
13 Labor standards in EU and US preferential trade agreements:
mainstreaming the trade–labor linkage 244
Evgeny Postnikov
14 Developing country responses to demands for improved labor
standards: case studies from the garment and textiles industry in Asia 257
Sanchita Banerjee Saxena
15 NAFTA’s lessons on labor standards and trade agreements 273
Lance Compa
16 Protecting the rights of migrant workers through trade mechanisms:
lessons from NAFTA 296
Kimberly A. Nolan García
17 Enforcement of labor standards in trade agreements: the case of Guatemala 313
Tequila J. Brooks
18 Hard and soft law approaches to protecting worker rights 325
Kimberly Ann Elliott
PART III PRIVATE AND MULTI-STAKEHOLDER APPROACHES
19 OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises 339
Kenneth A. Reinert, Oda T. Reinert and Gelaye Debebe
20 Pioneering a new approach to improving working conditions in
developing countries: Better Factories Cambodia 358
Raymond Robertson
21 Sewing in the sand: how trade preferences created, and labor abuses
nearly killed, the Jordanian garment industry 381
Kevin Kolben
22 Corporate social responsibility: codes, compliance and ESG ratings 399
Tim Bartley
23 The Bangladesh accord and alliance: addressing building safety through
global supply chain co-governance 414
Mark Anner and Jennifer Bair
24 Can blockchain solve the puzzle of labour standards implementation in
international trade? 430
Sangeeta Khorana and Hanna C. Norberg
Index
1 Handbook on globalisation and labour: introduction and overview 1
Kimberly Ann Elliott
PART I INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS UNDER GLOBALISATION
2 Globalization and freedom of association and collective bargaining rights 13
David Kucera and Dora Sari
3 Globalization and the persistence of forced labor and child labor 36
Eric V. Edmonds
4 Work, gender and discrimination in global production 65
Stephanie Barrientos
5 Protecting the vulnerable: migration, work and human rights due diligence 85
Janelle M. Diller
6 Workers’ rights and human rights: toward a new fundamental principle? 108
Zahra Yusifli and Colin Fenwick
7 Human resource management and abuse in global supply chains 127
Laura Babbitt, Drusilla Brown, Ana Antolin and Elyse Voegeli
8 Prospects for labor-related upgrading in global supply chains 143
Layna Mosley
PART II PUBLIC APPROACHES TO PROTECTING LABOUR
STANDARDS UNDER GLOBALISATION
9 Sovereignty and the ILO 167
Steve Charnovitz
10 The 1998 ILO Declaration: responding to globalization and impacting
corporate labor behavior 184
Janice R. Bellace
11 The strategy and politics of linking trade and labor standards: an
overview of issues and approaches 204
Sandra Polaski
12 Evidence on the impact of labor provisions in preferential trade agreements 227
Damian Raess
13 Labor standards in EU and US preferential trade agreements:
mainstreaming the trade–labor linkage 244
Evgeny Postnikov
14 Developing country responses to demands for improved labor
standards: case studies from the garment and textiles industry in Asia 257
Sanchita Banerjee Saxena
15 NAFTA’s lessons on labor standards and trade agreements 273
Lance Compa
16 Protecting the rights of migrant workers through trade mechanisms:
lessons from NAFTA 296
Kimberly A. Nolan García
17 Enforcement of labor standards in trade agreements: the case of Guatemala 313
Tequila J. Brooks
18 Hard and soft law approaches to protecting worker rights 325
Kimberly Ann Elliott
PART III PRIVATE AND MULTI-STAKEHOLDER APPROACHES
19 OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises 339
Kenneth A. Reinert, Oda T. Reinert and Gelaye Debebe
20 Pioneering a new approach to improving working conditions in
developing countries: Better Factories Cambodia 358
Raymond Robertson
21 Sewing in the sand: how trade preferences created, and labor abuses
nearly killed, the Jordanian garment industry 381
Kevin Kolben
22 Corporate social responsibility: codes, compliance and ESG ratings 399
Tim Bartley
23 The Bangladesh accord and alliance: addressing building safety through
global supply chain co-governance 414
Mark Anner and Jennifer Bair
24 Can blockchain solve the puzzle of labour standards implementation in
international trade? 430
Sangeeta Khorana and Hanna C. Norberg
Index
