Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Private Regulation and Trade Union Rights: Why Codes of Conduct Have Limited Impact on Trade Union Rights

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Codes of conduct are the main tools to privately regulate worker rights in global value chains. Scholars have shown that while codes may improve outcome standards (such as occupational health and safety), they have had limited impact on process rights (such as freedom of association and collective bargaining). Scholars have, though, only provided vague or general explanations for this empirical finding. We address this shortcoming by providing a holistic and detailed explanation, and argue that codes, in their current form, have limited impact on trade union rights due to (i) buyers paying lip service to trade union rights, (ii) workers being treated as passive objects of regulation in codes of conduct, (iii) auditing being unable to detect and remediate violations of trade union rights, (iv) codes emphasizing parallel means of organizing, (v) suppliers having limited incentives for compliance, and (vi) codes being unable to open up space for union organizing when leveraged in grassroots struggles. Our arguments suggest that there is no quick fix for codes’ limited impact on trade union rights, and that codes, in their current form, have limited potential to improve trade union rights. We conclude by discussing ways in which codes of conduct, and private regulation of worker rights more generally, could be transformed to more effectively address trade union rights.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf.

  2. Interviews conducted by Community Legal Education Centre regarding Better Factory Cambodia for the report “10 Years of the Better Factories Cambodia Project: A critical evaluation,” available at http://archive.cleanclothes.org/component/docman/doc_download/53-10-years-of-the-better-factories-project-english.

  3. Clean Clothes Campaign and Alternative Movement for Resources and Freedom Society (2009), “Study on a Living Wage in the Export-Oriented Garment Sector in Bangladesh, (final draft),” April 5, 2009, p. 50, unpublished document on file.

  4. Asia Floor Wage Alliance India (4 September 2011) “Researching Tier 1 Companies in India: 3 companies in 3 Garment Clusters,” unpublished research on file.

  5. See, for example, Clean Clothes Campaign (1998) “Code of labour practices for the apparel industry including sportswear,” and ICFTU (1997) “Basic code of labour practice.”

  6. See, for example, Tesco, for another example of a company that promotes the right to organize at its suppliers’ workplaces, while violating these rights at its own facilities (Compa 2010).

  7. Maquila Solidarity Network. (2002). Codes Memo Update, November, No. 12.

  8. Joseph, Lean, National Free Trade Union, interview March 26, 2011, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

  9. Nova, Scott. Memo to Primary Contacts at WRC Affiliate Colleges and Universities, 30 January 2008.

References

  • Ählström, J., & Egels-Zandén, N. (2008). The processes of defining corporate responsibility: A study of Swedish garment retailers’ responsibility. Business Strategy and the Environment, 17(4), 230–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anner, M. (2000). Local and transnational campaigns to end sweatshop practices. In M. Gordon & L. Turner (Eds.), Transnational cooperation among trade unions (pp. 238–255). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anner, M. (2012). Corporate social responsibility and freedom of association rights: The precarious quest for legitimacy and control in global supply chains. Politics & Society, 40(4), 609–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armbruster-Sandoval, R. (2003). Globalization and transnational labor organizing: The Honduran maquiladora industry and the Kimi campaign. Social Science History, 27, 551–576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armbruster-Sandoval, R. (2005). Globalization and cross-border labor solidarity in the Americas: The anti-sweatshop movement and the struggle for social justice. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ascoly, N., & Zeldenrust, I. (2003). Challenges in china: Experiences from two CCC pilot projects on monitoring and verification of code compliance. Amsterdam: SOMO, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auret, D., & Barrientos, S. (2004). Participatory social auditing: A practical guide to developing a gender-sensitive approach. IDS Working Paper 237, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.

  • Barrientos, S. (2013). Corporate purchasing practices in global production networks: A socially contested terrain. Geoforum, 44, 44–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrientos, S., & Smith, S. (2007). Do workers benefit from ethical trade? Assessing codes of labour practice in global production systems. Third World Quarterly, 28(4), 713–729.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartley, T. (2007). Institutional emergence in an era of globalization: The rise of transnational private regulation of labor and environmental conditions. American Journal of Sociology, 113(2), 297–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartley, T., & Zhang, L. (2012). Opening the “black box”: Transnational private certification of labor standards in China. RCCPB Working Paper #18, Indiana University.

  • Behnam, M., & MacLean, T. L. (2011). Where is the accountability in international accountability standards? A decoupling perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21(1), 45–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beschorner, T., & Müller, M. (2007). Social standards: Toward an active ethical involvement of businesses in developing countries. Journal of Business Ethics, 73, 11–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blowfield, M. E., & Dolan, C. (2010). Fairtrade facts and fancies: What Kenyan fairtrade tea tells us about business’ role as development agent. Journal of Business Ethics, 93, 143–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, R., & Gearhart, J. (2004). Who should code your conduct? Trade union and NGO differences in the fight for workers’ rights. Development in Practice, 14(1–2), 183–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, A., Eidlin, B., & Candaele, K. (2006). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Report for the Global Companies-Global Unions-Global Research-Global Campaigns Conference.

  • Brown, D. (2000). International trade and core labour standards: A survey of the recent literature. OECD Labour Market and Social Policy—Occasional Papers, No. 43.

  • Brown, G. (2013). Fatal flaws of foreign factory audits. Industrial Safety and Hygiene News, February. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://www.ishn.com/articles/print/95045-fatal-flaws-of-foreign-factory-audits.

  • Brown, G., & O’Rourke, D. (2007). Lean manufacturing comes to China: A case study of its impact on workplace health and safety. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 3, 249–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caraway, T. L. (2011). Final report: Labor courts in Indonesia. Phnom Penh: American Center for International Labor Solidarity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, A., & Siu, K. (2010). Analyzing exploitation: The mechanisms underpinning low wages and excessive overtime in Chinese export factories. Critical Asian Studies, 42(2), 167–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christmann, P. (2004). Multinational companies and the natural environment: Determinants of global environmental policy. Academy of Management Journal, 47(5), 747–760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compa, L. (2010). A strange case: Violations of workers’ freedom of association in the United States by European multinational corporations. New York, NY: Human Rights Watch. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1334&context=articles.

  • Connor, T., & Dent, K. (2006). Offside! Labour rights and sportswear production in Asia. London: Oxfam International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egels-Zandén, N. (2007). Suppliers’ compliance with MNCs’ codes of conduct: Behind the scenes at Chinese toy suppliers. Journal of Business Ethics, 75(1), 45–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egels-Zandén, N. (2013). Revisiting supplier compliance with MNC codes of conduct: Recoupling policy and practice at Chinese toy suppliers. Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1622-5.

  • Egels-Zandén, N., & Bartley, T. (2012). How local activists use codes of conduct: A global value chain approach. Presented at the 2012 SASE Conference, Boston, MA.

  • Egels-Zandén, N., & Hyllman, P. (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, 76(2), 207–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egels-Zandén, N., & Wahlqvist, E. (2007). Post-partnership strategies for defining corporate responsibility: The business social compliance initiative. Journal of Business Ethics, 70(2), 175–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Everett, J. S., Neu, D., & Martinez, D. (2008). Multi-stakeholder labour monitoring organizations: Egoists, instrumentalists, or moralists? Journal of Business Ethics, 81, 117–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FLA. (2004). Public Report. Retrieved February 2, 2013, from http://www.fairlabor.org/2004report/freedom/improve.html.

  • Fransen, L. (2012). Multi-stakeholder governance and voluntary programme interactions: Legitimation politics in the institutional design of corporate social responsibility. Socio-Economic Review, 10, 163–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French, J. L., & Wokutch, R. E. (2005). Child workers, globalization and international business ethics: A case study in Brazil’s export-oriented shoe industry. Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(4), 615–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel, S. (2001). Globalization, athletic footwear commodity chains and employment relations in China. Organization Studies, 22(4), 531–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, M. R. (2002). Ethics and HRM: A review and conceptual analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 36, 261–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallett, T. (2010). The myth incarnate: Recoupling processes, turmoil, and inhabited institutions in an urban elementary school. American Sociological Review, 75(1), 52–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, P., & Urminsky, M. (2003). Social auditing, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Geneva: Multinational Enterprises Programme, ILO. Retrieved February 2, 2013, from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/actrav/publ/130/8.pdf.

  • ILO. (2004). Organizing for social justice: Global report under the follow-up to the ILO declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work. International Labour Conference, 92nd Session, 2004, Report 1 (b). Geneva: ILO.

  • ILO. (2006). Freedom of association: Digest of decisions and principles of the freedom of association committee of the governing body of the ILO Fifth (revised) edition. Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (2008). The labour principles of the United Nations Global Compact: A guide for business. Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO. (2011). Freedom of association and development. Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • ITUC, IndustriALL, Clean Clothes Campaign, & UNI. (2012). The UN guiding principles on business and human rights and the human rights of workers to form or join trade unions and to bargain collectively. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/12-11-22_ituc-industriall-ccc-uni_paper_on_due_diligence_and_foa.pdf.

  • Ip, P.-K. (2008). Corporate social responsibility and crony capitalism in Taiwan. Journal of Business Ethics, 79, 167–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, B. (2009). Implementing supplier codes of conduct in global supply chains: Process explanations from theoretic and empirical perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 85, 77–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, F. R., Munir, K. A., & Willmott, H. (2007). A dark Side of institutional entrepreneurship: Soccer balls, child labour and postcolonial impoverishment. Organization Studies, 28(7), 1055–1077.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kucera, D., & Sarna, R. (2006). Trade union rights, democracy, and exports: A gravity model approach. Review of International Economics, 14(5), 859–882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Locke, R., Kochan, T., Romis, M., & Qin, F. (2007). Beyond corporate codes of conduct: Work organization and labour standards at Nike’s suppliers. International Labour Review, 146(1–2), 21–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long, B. S., & Driscoll, C. (2007). Codes of ethics and the pursuit of organizational legitimacy: Theoretical and empirical contributions. Journal of Business Ethics, 77, 173–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mamic, I. (2004). Implementing codes of conduct: How businesses manage social performance in global supply chains. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merk, J. (2008). Restructuring and conflict in the global athletic footwear industry: Nike, Yue Yuen and labour codes of conduct. In M. Taylor (Ed.), Global economy contested: Power and conflict across the international division of labour (pp. 79–97). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Merk, J. (2011). Production beyond the horizon of consumption: Spatial fixes and anti-sweatshop struggles in the global athletic footwear industry. Global Society, 25(1), 73–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organization: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. (2008). The ITGLWF’s policy on cross-border dialogue in the textiles, clothing and footwear sector: Emerging strategies in a sector ruled by codes of conduct and resistant companies. In K. Papadakis (Ed.), Cross-border social dialogue and agreements: An emerging global industrial relations framework? (pp. 161–189). Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ngai, P. (2003). The moral economy of capital: Transnational corporate codes of conduct and labour rights in China. Presented at the Chinese University Conference: Chinese Trade Unions and the Labour Movement in the Market Economy, October 23–25.

  • Ngai, P. (2005). Global production, company codes of conduct, and labor conditions in China: A case study of two factories. The China Journal, 54, 101–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Rourke, D. (2002). Monitoring the monitors: A critique of third-party labor monitoring. In R. Jenkins, R. Pearson, & G. Seyfang (Eds.), Corporate responsibility and labour rights: Codes of conduct in the global economy (pp. 196–208). London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Rourke, D., & Brown, G. (2003). Experiments in transforming the global workplace: Incentives for and impediments to improving workplace conditions in China. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental and Health, 9(4), 378–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oka, C. (2011). What can bridge compliance gaps? Evidence from Cambodia. Presented at the 2nd Conference on Regulating for Decent Work: Regulating for a Fair Recovery, 6–8 July. Geneva: ILO.

  • Play Fair. (2008). Clearing the hurdles: Steps to improving wages and working conditions in the global sportswear industry. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://www.playfair2008.org/docs/Clearing_the_Hurdles.pdf.

  • Preuss, L. (2009). Ethical sourcing codes of large UK-based corporations: Prevalence, content, limitations. Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 735–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preuss, L. (2010). Codes of conduct in organisational context: From cascade to lattice-work of codes. Journal of Business Ethics, 94, 471–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prieto-Carron, M. (2006). Corporate social responsibility in Latin America: Chiquita, women banana workers and structural inequalities. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 21, 85–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prieto-Carrón, M. (2008). Women workers, industrialization, global supply chains and corporate codes of conduct. Journal of Business Ethics, 83, 5–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reay, T., & Hinings, C. R. (2009). Managing the rivalry of competing institutional logics. Organization Studies, 30(6), 629–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rees, C., & Vermijs, D. (2008). Mapping grievance mechanisms in the business and human rights area. Corporate social responsibility initiative. John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, January, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://shiftproject.org/sites/default/files/Report_28_Mapping.pdf.

  • Riisgaard, L. (2009). Global value chains, labor organization and private social standards: Lessons from East African cut flower industries. World Development, 37(2), 326–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riisgaard, L., & Hammer, N. (2011). Prospects for labour in global value chains: Labour standards in the cut flower and banana industries. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 49(1), 168–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Garavito, C. A. (2005). Global governance and labor rights: Codes of conduct and anti-sweatshop struggles in global apparel factories in Mexico and Guatemala. Politics and Society, 33(2), 203–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, R. J. S. (2006). A tale of two factories: Successful resistance to sweatshops and the limits of firefighting. Labor Studies Journal, 30(4), 65–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Runhaard, H., & Lafferty, H. (2009). Governing corporate social responsibility: An assessment of the contribution of the UN Global Compact to CSR strategies in the telecommunications industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 84, 479–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauder, M., & Espeland, W. N. (2009). The discipline of rankings: Tight coupling and organizational change. American Sociological Review, 74, 63–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. (2008). Institutions and organizations: Ideas and interests. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, G. (2007). Beyond the boycott: Labor rights, human rights and transnational activism. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation/ASA Rose Series.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spillane, J. P., Parise, L. M., & Sherer, J. Z. (2011). Organizational routines as coupling mechanisms: Policy, school administration, and the technical core. American Educational Research Journal, 48(3), 586–620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sum, N.-L., & Ngai, P. (2005). Globalization and paradoxes of ethical transnational production: Code of conduct in a Chinese workplace. Competition and Change, 9(2), 181–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, M. (2011). Race you to the bottom … and back again? The uneven development of labour codes of conduct. New Political Economy, 16(4), 445–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tjandraningsih, I., & Nugroho, H. (2008). The flexibility regime and organised labour in Indonesia. Labour and Management in Development, 9, 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Buren, H. J., & Greenwood, M. R. (2008). Enhancing employee voice: Are voluntary employer–employee partnerships enough? Journal of Business Ethics, 81, 209–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Vegt, S. (2005). Social auditing in Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey: Results from survey and case study research. Ankara: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Tulder, R., & Kolk, A. (2001). Multinationality and corporate ethics: Codes of conduct in the sporting goods industry. Journal of International Business Studies, 32(2), 267–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waddock, S. (2004). Creating corporate accountability: Foundational principles to make corporate citizenship real. Journal of Business Ethics, 50, 313–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, H. (2005). Asian transnational corporations and labor rights: Vietnamese trade unions in Taiwan-invested companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 56, 43–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, D. (2007). Too weak for the job: Corporate codes of conduct, non-governmental organizations and the regulation of international labour standards. Global Social Policy, 7(1), 51–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wereldsolidariteit. (2011). Short-term employment in the Asian garment industry. Thematic Report from Asia, No. 1. Brussels.

  • Wingborg, M. (2006). Indiska: En granskning av företagets strategier för att förbättra villkoren i leverantörsfabrikerna. Stockholm: Clean Clothes Campaign Sweden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, X. (2008). Impacts of corporate codes of conduct on labor standards: A case study of Reebok’s athletic footwear supplier factory in China. Journal of Business Ethics, 81, 513–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, X. (2009). From passive beneficiary to active stakeholder: Workers’ participation in CSR movement against labor abuses. Journal of Business Ethics, 87, 233–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zadek, S. (2004). The path to corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 82(12), 125–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeldenrust, I. (2008). Overcoming challenges: Access, effectiveness and enforcement. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from http://srsg-consultation.pbworks.com/w/page/6116278/Overcoming%20Challenges%3A%20Access,%20Effectiveness%20and%20Enforcement.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, School of Business Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Box 600, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Niklas Egels-Zandén

  2. International Secretariat Clean Clothes Campaign, PO Box 11584, 1001 GN, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jeroen Merk

Authors
  1. Niklas Egels-Zandén
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeroen Merk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Niklas Egels-Zandén.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Egels-Zandén, N., Merk, J. Private Regulation and Trade Union Rights: Why Codes of Conduct Have Limited Impact on Trade Union Rights. J Bus Ethics 123, 461–473 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1840-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1840-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation