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Spillover Effects across Transnational Industrial Relations Agreements: The Potential and Limits of Collective Action in Global Supply Chains

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  • Sarah Ashwin
  • Chikako Oka
  • Elke Schuessler
  • Rachel Alexander
  • Nora Lohmeyer

Abstract

Using qualitative data from interviews with multiple respondents in 45 garment brands and retailers, as well as respondents from unions and other stakeholders, the authors analyze the emergence of the Action Collaboration Transformation (ACT) living wages initiative. They ask how the inter-firm coordination and firm–union cooperation demanded by a multi-firm transnational industrial relations agreement (TIRA) developed. Synthesizing insights from the industrial relations and private governance literatures along with recent collective action theory, they identify a new pathway for the emergence of multi-firm TIRAs based on common group understandings, positive experiences of interaction, and trust. The central finding is that existing union-inclusive governance initiatives provided a platform from which spillover effects developed, facilitating the formation of new TIRAs. The authors contribute a new mapping of labor governance approaches on the dimensions of inter-firm coordination and labor inclusiveness, foregrounding socialization dynamics as a basis for collective action and problematizing the limited scalability of this mode of institutional emergence.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Ashwin & Chikako Oka & Elke Schuessler & Rachel Alexander & Nora Lohmeyer, 2020. "Spillover Effects across Transnational Industrial Relations Agreements: The Potential and Limits of Collective Action in Global Supply Chains," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(4), pages 995-1020, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:73:y:2020:i:4:p:995-1020
    DOI: 10.1177/0019793919896570
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephen J. FRENKEL & Elke S. SCHUESSLER, 2021. "From Rana Plaza to COVID‐19: Deficiencies and opportunities for a new labour governance system in garment global supply chains," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(4), pages 591-609, December.
    2. Chunyun Li & Sarosh Kuruvilla, 2023. "Corporate codes of conduct and labour turnover in global apparel supply chains," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 481-505, September.
    3. Matthew Amengual & Sarosh Kuruvilla, 2020. "Editorial Essay: Introduction to a Special Issue on Improving Private Regulation of Labor in Global Supply Chains: Theory and Evidence," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(4), pages 809-816, August.
    4. Vyacheslav Volchik & Elena Maslyukova & Wadim Strielkowski, 2023. "Perception of Scientific and Social Values in the Sustainable Development of National Innovation Systems," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Chikako Oka & Niklas Egels‐Zandén & Rachel Alexander, 2020. "Buyer Engagement and Labour Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Bangladesh Accord and Beyond," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(5), pages 1306-1330, September.
    6. Yossi Dahan & Hanna Lerner & Faina Milman-Sivan, 2023. "Shared Responsibility and Labor Rights in Global Supply Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 1025-1040, February.
    7. Juliane Reinecke & Jimmy Donaghey, 2021. "Towards Worker‐Driven Supply Chain Governance: Developing Decent Work Through Democratic Worker Participation," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 14-28, April.
    8. Ashwin, Sarah & Kabeer, Naila & Schüßler, Elke, 2020. "Contested understandings in the global garment industry after Rana Plaza," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102350, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Sarah Ashwin & Naila Kabeer & Elke Schüßler, 2020. "Contested Understandings in the Global Garment Industry after Rana Plaza," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(5), pages 1296-1305, September.
    10. Oka, Chikako & Egels-Zandén, Niklas & Alexander, Rachel, 2020. "Buyer engagement and labour conditions in global supply chains: the Bangladesh Accord and beyond," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106695, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Schüßler, Elke & Lohmeyer, Nora & Ashwin, Sarah, 2022. "We can't compete on human rights: creating market-protected spaces to institutionalize the emerging logic of responsible management," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115506, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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