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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Exploring the Realities of Child Sex Trafficking in Georgia
Publications

Written by Amber McKeen, Child Abuse Prevention Trainer at the Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children. This publication provides a definition of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), or sex trafficking; lists t...Read More

MAPPING HER JOURNEY: Documenting Widespread Issues Affecting Sierra Leonean Domestic Workers in Oman Using Primary, Real-Time and Near Real-Time Data
Publications

Domestic workers are one of the communities least protected by existing laws and one of the most vulnerable to exploitation in the world. We have documented an array of systemic and widespread abusive practices against Sierra Leonean women domestic ...Read More

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Beyond Compliance in the Hotel Sector: A Review of UK Modern Slavery Act Statements
Publications

There is a high-risk of exploitation within the hotel sector due to its vulnerable workforce, complex supply chains with little transparency, and limited oversight from brands and multinational hotel companies as a result of extensive franchising. I...Read More

Mapping Interventions Addressing Child Labour and Working Conditions in Artisanal Mineral Supply Chains
Publications

At the request of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Levin Sources conducted this mapping (mainly desk research) of interventions (projects and initiatives) to address child labour and poor working conditions (either directly or indirectly...Read More