Mind the gap: Grass roots ‘brokering’ to improve labour standards in global supply chains

Kaine, SJ; Josserand, E

Mind the gap: Grass roots ‘brokering’ to improve labour standards in global supply chains

Kaine, SJ

Josserand, E

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Human Relations, 2018, 71 (4), pp. 584 - 609
Issue Date:: 2018-04-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Kaine, SJ https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8485-7156	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Josserand, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6724-2405	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-05-25T19:05:21Z
dc.date.issued	2018-04-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Human Relations, 2018, 71 (4), pp. 584 - 609	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0018-7267	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/105856
dc.description.abstract	© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. While governance and regulation are a first step in addressing worsening working conditions in global supply chains, improving implementation is also key to reversing this trend. In this article, after examining the nature of the existing governance and implementation gaps in labour standards in global supply chains, we explore how Viet Labor, an emerging grass-roots organization, has developed practices to help close them. This involves playing brokering roles between different workers and between workers and existing governance mechanisms. We identify an initial typology of six such roles: educating, organizing, supporting, collective action, whistle-blowing and documenting. This marks a significant shift in the way action to improve labour standards along the supply chain is analysed. Our case explores how predominantly top-down approaches can be supplemented by bottom-up ones centred on workers’ agency.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Human Relations	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0018726717727046	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management	en_US
dc.title	Mind the gap: Grass roots ‘brokering’ to improve labour standards in global supply chains	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	4	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	71	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	1701 Psychology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	4	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	71	en_US

Abstract:

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. While governance and regulation are a first step in addressing worsening working conditions in global supply chains, improving implementation is also key to reversing this trend. In this article, after examining the nature of the existing governance and implementation gaps in labour standards in global supply chains, we explore how Viet Labor, an emerging grass-roots organization, has developed practices to help close them. This involves playing brokering roles between different workers and between workers and existing governance mechanisms. We identify an initial typology of six such roles: educating, organizing, supporting, collective action, whistle-blowing and documenting. This marks a significant shift in the way action to improve labour standards along the supply chain is analysed. Our case explores how predominantly top-down approaches can be supplemented by bottom-up ones centred on workers’ agency.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/105856