IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-01847136.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

When Workplace Unionism in Global Value Chains Does Not Function Well: Exploring the Impediments

Author

Listed:
  • Céline Louche

    (Audencia Business School)

  • Lotte Staelens

    (UGENT - Universiteit Gent = Ghent University = Université de Gand)

  • Marijke D’haese

    (UGENT - Universiteit Gent = Ghent University = Université de Gand)

Abstract

Improving working conditions at the bottom of global value chains has become a central issue in our global economy. In this battle, trade unionism has been presented as a way for workers to make their voices heard. Therefore, it is strongly promoted by most social standards. However, establishing a well-functioning trade union is not as obvious as it may seem. Using a comparative case study approach, we examine impediments to farm-level unionism in the cut flower industry in Ethiopia. For this purpose, we propose an integrated framework combining two lenses, namely a vertical one (governance and structure of global value chains) and a horizontal one (socio-economic context). We identify 10 impediments that point to three major dimensions contributing to unionisation. These three dimensions include awareness of, and interest from workers, legitimacy of trade unions, and capacity of trade unions to act. Furthermore, our results suggest that private social standards may, in certain cases, be counterproductive for the efficient functioning of trade unions. Although we argue that there is no ‘quick fix' solution to weak workplace unionism at the bottom of global value chains, we stress the importance of considering the dynamics of, and interactions between, the impediments when designing potential support measures that mitigate negative impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Céline Louche & Lotte Staelens & Marijke D’haese, 2020. "When Workplace Unionism in Global Value Chains Does Not Function Well: Exploring the Impediments," Post-Print hal-01847136, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01847136
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-3980-5
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01847136v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-01847136v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-018-3980-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:ilo:ilowps:382140 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Paul Blyton & Jean Jenkins, 2013. "Mobilizing Protest: Insights from Two Factory Closures," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 51(4), pages 733-753, December.
    3. Susie Jacobs & Bénédicte Brahic & Marta Medusa Olaiya, 2015. "Sexual harassment in an east African agribusiness supply chain," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(3), pages 393-410, September.
    4. Maja Tampe, 2018. "Leveraging the Vertical: The Contested Dynamics of Sustainability Standards and Labour in Global Production Networks," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 43-74, March.
    5. Kimberly Ann Elliott & Richard B. Freeman, 2003. "Can Labor Standards Improve under Globalization?," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 338, April.
    6. Anne Tallontire & Maggie Opondo & Valerie Nelson & Adrienne Martin, 2011. "Beyond the vertical? Using value chains and governance as a framework to analyse private standards initiatives in agri-food chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(3), pages 427-441, September.
    7. Niklas Egels-Zandén & Jeroen Merk, 2014. "Private Regulation and Trade Union Rights: Why Codes of Conduct Have Limited Impact on Trade Union Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 461-473, September.
    8. Frank Ellis, 1998. "Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 1-38.
    9. Gary Gereffi & Joonkoo Lee, 2016. "Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains and Industrial Clusters: Why Governance Matters," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 25-38, January.
    10. Spencer Henson & John Humphrey, 2010. "Understanding the Complexities of Private Standards in Global Agri-Food Chains as They Impact Developing Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(9), pages 1628-1646.
    11. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    12. Lone Riisgaard & Nikolaus Hammer, 2011. "Prospects for Labour in Global Value Chains: Labour Standards in the Cut Flower and Banana Industries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 168-190, March.
    13. Lance Compa, 2004. "Trade unions, NGOs, and corporate codes of conduct," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1-2), pages 210-215.
    14. Lone Riisgaard, 2011. "Towards more stringent sustainability standards? Trends in the cut flower industry," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(129), pages 435-453, September.
    15. Alex Hughes & Martin Buttle & Neil Wrigley, 2007. "Organisational geographies of corporate responsibility: a UK-US comparison of retailers' ethical trading initiatives," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(4), pages 491-513, July.
    16. Stephanie Barrientos & Andrienetta Kritzinger, 2004. "Squaring the circle: global production and the informalization of work in South African fruit exports," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 81-92.
    17. Harry Buren & Michelle Greenwood, 2008. "Enhancing Employee Voice: Are Voluntary Employer–Employee Partnerships Enough?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 209-221, August.
    18. Barrientos, Stephanie & Dolan, Catherine & Tallontire, Anne, 2003. "A Gendered Value Chain Approach to Codes of Conduct in African Horticulture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1511-1526, September.
    19. Niklas Egels-Zandén & Peter Hyllman, 2007. "Evaluating Strategies for Negotiating Workers’ Rights in Transnational Corporations: The Effects of Codes of Conduct and Global Agreements on Workplace Democracy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(2), pages 207-223, December.
    20. Andy Cumbers & Corinne Nativel & Paul Routledge, 2008. "Labour agency and union positionalities in global production networks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 369-387, May.
    21. Neil M. Coe & Peter Dicken & Martin Hess, 2008. "Global production networks: realizing the potential," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 271-295, May.
    22. Siri Carson & Øivind Hagen & S. Sethi, 2015. "From Implicit to Explicit CSR in a Scandinavian Context: The Cases of HÅG and Hydro," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 17-31, March.
    23. Egulu, Lawrence, 2004. "Trade union participation in the PRSP process," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 30166, The World Bank.
    24. Peter Lund-Thomsen & Neil M. Coe, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility and labour agency: the case of Nike in Pakistan," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 275-296.
    25. Po-Keung Ip, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Crony Capitalism in Taiwan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 167-177, April.
    26. Elena Baglioni, 2018. "Labour control and the labour question in global production networks: exploitation and disciplining in Senegalese export horticulture," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 111-137.
    27. Mano, Yukichi & Yamano, Takashi & Suzuki, Aya & Matsumoto, Tomoya, 2011. "Local and Personal Networks in Employment and the Development of Labor Markets: Evidence from the Cut Flower Industry in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1760-1770.
    28. Matthew Alford & Stephanie Barrientos & Margareet Visser, 2017. "Multi-scalar Labour Agency in Global Production Networks: Contestation and Crisis in the South African Fruit Sector," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 48(4), pages 721-745, July.
    29. Khalid Nadvi, 2008. "Global standards, global governance and the organization of global value chains," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 323-343, May.
    30. Xiaomin Yu, 2009. "From Passive Beneficiary to Active Stakeholder: Workers’ Participation in CSR Movement Against Labor Abuses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 233-249, April.
    31. Riisgaard, Lone, 2009. "Global Value Chains, Labor Organization and Private Social Standards: Lessons from East African Cut Flower Industries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 326-340, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Annelien Gansemans & Céline Louche & Marijke D'Haese, 2021. "Planting Seeds for Social Dialogue: An Institutional Work Perspective," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 84-113, March.
    2. Céline LOUCHE & Guillaume DELAUTRE & Gabriela BALVEDI PIMENTEL, 2023. "Assessing companies' decent work practices: An analysis of ESG rating methodologies," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(1), pages 69-97, March.
    3. Diede Smith & Marina de Regt & Addis Alem Tekalign, 2022. "Baking injera in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Women's invisible labor in the teff value chain," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1428-1442, September.
    4. Dong Hoang, 2019. "Labour Standards in the Global Supply Chain: Workers’ Agency and Reciprocal Exchange Perspective," Societies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-25, May.
    5. Annelien Gansemans & Marijke D’Haese, 2020. "Staying under the radar: constraints on labour agency of pineapple plantation workers in Costa Rica?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 397-414, June.

    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. Annelien Gansemans & Marijke D’Haese, 2020. "Staying under the radar: constraints on labour agency of pineapple plantation workers in Costa Rica?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 397-414, June.
    2. Lotte Staelens & Sam Desiere & Céline Louche & Marijke D’haese, 2018. "Predicting job satisfaction and workers’ intentions to leave at the bottom of the high value agricultural chain: Evidence from the Ethiopian cut flower industry," Post-Print hal-04352116, HAL.
    3. Niklas Egels-Zandén & Jeroen Merk, 2014. "Private Regulation and Trade Union Rights: Why Codes of Conduct Have Limited Impact on Trade Union Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 461-473, September.
    4. Marslev, Kristoffer & Staritz, Cornelia & Raj‐Reichert, Gale, 2022. "Rethinking Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Worker Power, State‒Labour Relations and Intersectionality," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 827-859.
    5. Eleanor Tighe, 2016. "Voluntary governance in clothing production networks: Management perspectives on multi-stakeholder initiatives in Dhaka," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(12), pages 2504-2524, December.
    6. Kristoffer Marslev & Cornelia Staritz & Gale Raj‐Reichert, 2022. "Rethinking Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Worker Power, State‒Labour Relations and Intersectionality," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 827-859, July.
    7. Matthew Alford & Margareet Visser & Stephanie Barrientos, 2021. "Southern actors and the governance of labour standards in global production networks: The case of South African fruit and wine," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(8), pages 1915-1934, November.
    8. Gansemans, A. & D'Haese, M., 2018. "Flying under the radar: The impact of plantation workers job insecurity on perceived labour agency," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277742, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Valerie Nelson & Anne Tallontire, 2014. "Battlefields of ideas: changing narratives and power dynamics in private standards in global agricultural value chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 481-497, September.
    10. Staelens, Lotte & Louche, Céline & D’Haese, Marijke, 2014. "Understanding job satisfaction in a labor intensive sector: Empirical evidence from the Ethiopian cut flower industry," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182815, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Anne Tallontire & Maggie Opondo & Valerie Nelson & Adrienne Martin, 2011. "Beyond the vertical? Using value chains and governance as a framework to analyse private standards initiatives in agri-food chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(3), pages 427-441, September.
    12. Christina Niforou, 2015. "Labour Leverage in Global Value Chains: The Role of Interdependencies and Multi-level Dynamics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 301-311, August.
    13. Simon R. Bush & Peter Oosterveer, 2015. "Vertically Differentiating Environmental Standards: The Case of the Marine Stewardship Council," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-23, February.
    14. Peter Lund-Thomsen & Adam Lindgreen, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Value Chains: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 11-22, August.
    15. Duarte, R. & Pegler, L.J. & Galhera, K., 2021. "Labour security and agency within the Orange Juice Value Chain (OJVC) in Brazil," ISS Working Papers - General Series 135312, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    16. Jean-Christophe Graz & Nicole Helmerich & Cécile Prébandier, 2020. "Hybrid Production Regimes and Labor Agency in Transnational Private Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 307-321, March.
    17. Fabiola MIERES & Siobhán MCGRATH, 2021. "Ripe to be heard: Worker voice in the Fair Food Program," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(4), pages 631-647, December.
    18. Niklas Egels-Zandén, 2017. "Responsibility Boundaries in Global Value Chains: Supplier Audit Prioritizations and Moral Disengagement Among Swedish Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 515-528, December.
    19. Jean‐Christophe Graz & Jimena Sobrino Piazza & André Walter, 2022. "Labour Standards in Global Production Networks: Assessing Transnational Private Regulation and Workers’ Capacity to Act," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 912-937, July.
    20. Stephanie BARRIENTOS & Frederick MAYER & John PICKLES & Anne POSTHUMA, 2011. "Decent work in global production networks: Framing the policy debate," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 150(3-4), pages 297-317, December.

    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:hal:journl:hal-01847136. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.