Not in New Zealand’s waters, surely? Linking labour issues to GPNs

Christina Stringer, Glenn Simmons, Daren Coulston and D. Hugh Whittaker

Journal of Economic Geography, 2014, vol. 14, issue 4, 739-758

Abstract: In 2010, a New Zealand chartered South Korean fishing vessel capsized in the Southern Ocean. The survivors detailed systematic human rights abuses aboard the vessel. This was not the first allegation of abuse aboard foreign vessels in New Zealand’s waters. Using global value chain (GVC)/global production network (GPN) perspectives, this article responds to the call to bring labour back into GVC/GPN analysis. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with foreign crew from a range of South Korean fishing vessels as well as other industry individuals. We found that crew members had become invisibilized and consequently abused through a combination of (i) value chain position, company strategies and business models; (ii) ‘cascade’ employment strategies and (iii) institutional gaps and confusion. Despite this combination, workers were ultimately able to make their voices heard, such that invisibilization should be rendered more difficult in future.

Date: 2014
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