IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bwp/bwppap/ctg-2011-08.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Back to the Future? A critical reflection on Neil Kearney’s mature systems of industrial relations perspective on the governance of outsourced apparel supply chains

Author

Listed:
  • Doug Miller
  • Simon Turner
  • Tom Grinter

Abstract

As the auditing model for assuring social compliance in apparel commodity chains is called into question, the global quest continues for institutions, policies and governance structures which can contribute towards the protection of worker rights, the promotion of decent work and an upgrading of working conditions and competencies. One such model, promoted by Neil Kearney, the late General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation, calls for the implementation of mature systems of industrial relations (MSIR) based on trade union recognition, procedural agreements and collective bargaining. This working paper charts the origins of MSIR, deconstructs the approach into its constituent elements and critically assesses these against the backdrop of governance debates in outsourced apparel production. Some conclusions and recommendations are drawn for a future research agenda.

Suggested Citation

  • Doug Miller & Simon Turner & Tom Grinter, 2012. "Back to the Future? A critical reflection on Neil Kearney’s mature systems of industrial relations perspective on the governance of outsourced apparel supply chains," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2011-08, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    • Handle: RePEc:bwp:bwppap:ctg-2011-08
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.capturingthegains.org/pdf/ctg-wp-2011-08.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Towers, Brian, 1997. "The Representation Gap: Change and Reform in the British and American Workplace," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198289463, Decembrie.
    2. Vosko, Leah F., 2011. "Managing the Margins: Gender, Citizenship, and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199575091, Decembrie.
    3. Edmund Heery & Carola Frege, 2006. "New Actors in Industrial Relations," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(4), pages 601-604, December.
    4. Konstantinos Papadakis, 2008. "Research on transnational social dialogue and International Framework Agreements (IFAs)," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 147(1), pages 100-104, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephen Machin, 2000. "Union Decline in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 631-645, December.
    2. Stephen Mustchin & Mathew Johnson & Marti Lopez‐Andreu, 2023. "Civil society organisations in and against the state: Advice, advocacy and activism on the margins of the labour market," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 117-131, March.
    3. Davide Però & John Downey, 2024. "Advancing Workers’ Rights in the Gig Economy through Discursive Power: The Communicative Strategies of Indie Unions," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(1), pages 140-160, February.
    4. John H. Pencavel, 2004. "The Surprising Retreat of Union Britain," NBER Chapters, in: Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980–2000, pages 181-232, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Bob Carter, 2001. "Lessons from America: Changes in the US Trade Union Movement," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(1), pages 185-194, March.
    6. Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez & Morley Gunderson & Noah Meltz, 2005. "Youth-Adult Differences in the Demand for Unionization: Are American, British, and Canadian Workers All That Different?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 26(1), pages 155-167, January.
    7. Tamar Diana Wilson, 2020. "Precarization, Informalization, and Marx," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 470-486, September.
    8. Brian Abbott & Steve Williams, 2014. "Widening the ‘representation gap'? The implications of the ‘lobbying act’ for worker representation in the UK," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 507-523, November.
    9. Miguel Martínez Lucio & Heather Connolly, 2012. "Transformation and Continuities in Urban Struggles," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(3), pages 669-684, February.
    10. Mick Marchington & Jane Suter, 2013. "Where Informality Really Matters: Patterns of Employee Involvement and Participation (EIP) in a Non-Union Firm," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52, pages 284-313, January.
    11. Dorina Niță, 2017. "Precarious Jobs," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 17(2), pages 165-174.
    12. Daryl D’Art & Thomas Turner, 2007. "Trade Unions and Political Participation in the European Union: Still Providing a Democratic Dividend?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 103-126, March.
    13. Alex Bryson & Richard Freeman, 2013. "Employee Perceptions of Working Conditions and the Desire for Worker Representation in Britain and the US," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 1-29, March.
    14. Alan Tuckman & Jeremé Snook, 2014. "Between consultation and collective bargaining? The changing role of non-union employee representatives: a case study from the finance sector," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 77-97, January.
    15. repec:ilo:ilowps:374049 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Gabriella Alberti & Jo Cutter, 2022. "Labour migration policy post‐Brexit: The contested meaning of regulation by old and new actors," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 430-445, September.
    17. A Charlwood, 2001. "Why Do Non-Union Employees Want To Unionise? Evidence from Britain," CEP Discussion Papers dp0498, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    18. Guy Mundlak & Ishak Saporta & Yitchak Haberfeld & Yinon Cohen, 2013. "Union Density in Israel 1995–2010: The Hybridization of Industrial Relations," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 78-101, January.
    19. José Antonio Llosa & Esteban Agulló-Tomás, 2022. "Technodiscipline of Work: Does Post-Pandemic Platform Employment Generate New Psychosocial Risks?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-6, July.
    20. Michael Barry & Adrian Wilkinson, 2011. "Reconceptualising employer associations under evolving employment relations," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(1), pages 149-162, March.
    21. Benjamin Hopkins & Chris Dawson, 2016. "Migrant workers and involuntary non-permanent jobs: agencies as new IR actors?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 163-180, March.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bwp:bwppap:ctg-2011-08. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Rowena Harding (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wpmanuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.