Coordinated governance in global value chains: supranational dynamics and the role of the International Labour Organization^*

* The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the ILO.

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the role of international organisations (IOs), at the supranational level, in advancing ‘coordinated governance’ – the interaction and complementary efforts of different public, private and social stakeholders – in promoting labour standards compliance in global value chains (GVCs). While scholars have questioned the ability of IOs to address economic and social challenges posed by globalisation, recent experience of the International Labour Organization (ILO) illustrates how supranational governance can mediate between national and international governance of labour standards in cross-border production systems such as GVCs. Briefly examining three cases reveals concrete dimensions in which the ILO is applying its structure and normative framework to create new configurations of coordinated governance and leveraging its convening power to promote social upgrading in national and GVCs: (1) The Protocol on Forced Labour (2014), which strengthens and updates existing ILO core conventions and promotes cross-border cooperation between states; (2) the ILO’s response in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza tragedy in April 2013, convening public and private stakeholders at the national and international levels and (3) the Better Work Programme, a partnership between the ILO and the International Finance Corporation, that involves tripartite participation at the national and global levels.

KEYWORDS:

• Global value chains
• governance
• International Labour Organization
• Protocol on Forced Labour (2014)
• Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh
• Better Work Programme

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Anne Caroline Posthuma is Senior Employment Policy Specialist in the Brazil Office of the International Labour Organization. She is responsible for research, policy advice and technical cooperation in the areas of employment policies, formalisation of the informal economy and productive development policies. Her research has focused on governance structures to promote improved working conditions and labour rights in GVCs, including Labour in Global Production Networks in India (Oxford University Press, with Dev Nathan). She holds a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Arianna Rossi is Research and Policy Officer for the ILO/IFC Better Work Global Programme, where she is responsible for the programme’s research, impact assessment, and monitoring and evaluation agenda. Prior to joining Better Work in 2009, she was Research Officer at the University of Manchester. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University focused on social and economic upgrading in garment GVCs, a MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and a degree in Economics from the University of Ferrara, Italy.

Notes

* The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the ILO.

1. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998) states that

all Members, even if they have not ratified the Conventions in question, have an obligation […] to respect, to promote and to realize […] the principles concerning the fundamental rights […], namely: (a) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; (b) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; (c) the effective abolition of child labour; and (d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. (ILO 1998).

While the prohibition of child labour and forced labour is frequently specified in global brands’ codes of conduct, as well as discrimination, the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is very rarely mentioned. Other conventions such as those related to wages, OSH and working hours overtime are also rarely mentioned in corporate codes. For an in-depth analysis of corporate codes’ content, see Barrientos and Smith (2007).

2. For example, many IFAs have been negotiated and signed in commodities and mining. In the garment industry, where the majority of corporate codes have proliferated, to date only two IFAs have been signed between the GUF IndustriALL and the two brands Inditex and H&M.

3. Law number 18,099, passed in 2007 in Uruguay.

4. Pre-crisis reforms included ad hoc increases in 2006 of quota and voting shares and access to resources for countries deemed to be under-represented, and corresponding reduction in shares among the leading economies.

5. Available from: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38742#.Vf6cqbekLSc [accessed on 20 September 2015].

6. Available from: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/history/lang--en/index.htm [Accessed 9 April 2016].

7. This pragmatic and transformative approach was reinforced in the preparatory work for the ILO’s Social Justice Declaration of 2008 that spoke of ‘a basic change of approach, away from traditional reports that disseminate information to ones that generate action’.

8. The ILO uses the term Global Supply Chains, instead of Global Value Chains, a term more widely used by other IOs such as OECD, the World Bank, WTO and UNCTAD. In this paper, the two terms are used interchangeably.

9. By July 2015, 178 Member States of the ILO had ratified Convention No. 29, attesting to the strong support it has received and its role as a foundation to combat forced labour, updated by the Protocol together with other normative instruments.

10. The adopted definition was ‘all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily’, ILO Forced Labour Convention No. 29 (1930), Article 2(1).

11. These other instruments have been viewed as either extensions or normative merging. See: Anton (2014).

12. In this figure are included 14.2 million persons particularly vulnerable to forced labour such as domestic workers and migrants, and specification of sectors such as agriculture, construction, fishing, manufacturing and mining, and another 4.5 million victims of forced sexual exploitation.

13. The Protocol is considered a new treaty and therefore requires ratification by individual states before it comes into force. Thereafter, implementation by Member States will be crucial to ensure these protections are put into practice.

14. The Protocol extends rights to all victims of forced labour, regardless of immigration status, including protection from abuse, access to effective remedies and immunity from prosecution for offenses committed during their victimisation.

15. We would be remiss not to mention the large-scale ‘RMG (ready made garment) project’, available from: http://www.ilo.org/dhaka/Whatwedo/Projects/WCMS_226453/lang--en/index.htm, which was launched in 2013 and entails improving safety by supporting the national initiative to inspect some 1800 RMG factories; building the capacity of the Labour Inspectorate; enhancing OSH awareness, capacity and systems in the RMG sector; and providing rehabilitation and skills training for victims of Rana Plaza collapse. The final component to this technical cooperation intervention is the establishment of a Better Work Bangladesh programme, which was officially launched in November 2013 and started operations in 2014.

16. It is worth noting that the ILO also acts as independent chair of the Rana Plaza Compensation Committee and related Donors Trust Fund, which have the objective of providing compensation to victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy. Available from: http://www.ranaplaza-arrangement.org/ [accessed on 9 April 2016].

17. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/business/global/hm-led-labor-breakthrough-by-european-retailers.html [accessed on 9 September 2015].