Can solidarity be organized "from below" in global supply chains? The case of ExChains

Kann Solidarität „von unten“ in globalen Zuliefererketten organisiert werden? Der Fall ExChains

Nora Lohmeyer, Elke Schüßler and Markus Helfen

Industrielle Beziehungen. Zeitschrift für Arbeit, Organisation und Management, 2018, vol. 25, issue 4, 400-424

Abstract: Global supply chains in the garment industry are marked by labour standard violations in factories as well as retail stores. Against this background it is important to strengthen the bargaining power of workers along the supply chain. Establishing direct relationships among workers along the supply chain could be one way to achieve this aim. This paper builds on extant literature on transnational solidarity and highlights the specific challenges of understanding solidarity in a transnational social space by looking at the empirical context of global garment supply chains. It hereby seeks to go beyond treating “solidarity” as a mere metaphor for any form of transnational union or worker cooperation, and instead engages with the cultural-normative dimensions of the concept as referring to mutual bonds among groups of workers. By looking at the case of the ExChains network, this paper examines some of the opportunities and challenges involved in establishing and maintaining transnational worker solidarity. The paper concludes by discussing the transformative potential, but also the limits of transnational labour solidarity regarding substandard working conditions in global supply chains.

Keywords: Labor; coercive labor markets; labor discrimination; labor standards; Arbeit; Zwangsarbeit; Arbeitsdiskriminierung; Arbeitsbedingungen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J47 J5 J7 J8 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:indbez:227425

DOI: 10.3224/indbez.v25i4.02

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