Conference Agenda

The paper examines how voice-building in favour of decent work has evolved in the specific context of Mauritius. While the small island nation was deemed doomed prior to embarking onto its formal independence in 1968, Mauritius has defied these predictions and demonstrated economic resilience over the past six decades. However, through longitudinal research conducted between 2012 and 2024, the paper examines the extent to which collective voice has developed in this specific context, in the aftermath of a colonial past and in a contemporary context where economic resilience is dependent upon the country’s willingness to cater for the business activities of the global north and the west.

Some scholars focusing on workers’ struggles in African countries have adopted a historical lens capable of showing how colonialism, its demise and aftermath have constituted the main institutional configuration surrounding these struggles (Hayter & Pons-Vignon, 2018; Croucher et al., 2022; Muasya & Walumbwa, 2023). In the sub-Saharan region, it has been noted how organised labour, for instance in South Africa, was not an outcome but a key agent in the struggle for liberation (Horwitz, 2006). Considering such examples and how national contexts including those of emerging economies have the power to shape worker voice or leaving it unheard, the study of African Industrial Relations (IR) systems may require a better understanding of African countries’ more extensive fight for freedom of the colonised oppressed. In this light, this paper aims to address the following question: how have unions and activists operating in Mauritius engaged in voice-building?

The case-based analysis draws from three data collection periods in which semi-structured or structured interviews were conducted with young workers from an emerging business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, unionists, activists as well as policy makers. Findings contextualise strategies deployed by social actors who tap from specific forms of solidarities to build collective voice and highlight the challenges they face in this continuous exercise, including other actors’ exit in the employment relationship (Doellgast, 2022). I suggest three sets of observation pertaining namely to the extent to which the Decent Work agenda requires solid underpinning by a larger voice-building project in the specific context of Mauritius, the importance of considering how exit is reinforced by history; and acknowledging social actors’ heterogenous design of strategies that cannot always be copied in the global south, from northern counterparts.

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The literature on labor governance mechanisms in global supply chains has increasingly emphasized the importance of worker voice in the operations of such mechanisms (LeBaron 2020; Reinecke and Donaghey 2023; Vanpeperstraete 2021). Rather than corporate-controlled social responsibility programs or management-controlled participation committees, a more empowering approach is enforceable brand agreements that include workers and their representatives on their oversight committees, such as in the case of the Bangladesh Accord (Anner, Bair, Blasi 2013).

This paper contributes to the literature on worker voice and agency in global supply chains (Barrientos 2019; Bartley 2018, Fischer-Daly and Anner 2023; Locke 2013, Reinecke and Donaghey 2021, Rossi 2015, ). It explores the research question: How do worker voice and agency impact outcomes when workers can leverage labor governance mechanisms and shape mechanism formation? The paper argues that when workers influence the formation of governance mechanisms, they subsequently can leverage those mechanisms more effectively. This is especially true when labor has shaped and leveraged multiple interacting mechanisms. Labor's influence on shaping mechanisms varies depending on the ability of employers and state actors to resist. The outcome of that contentious process provides insights into the potential effectiveness of the mechanisms. This is true for private governance mechanisms, such as EBAs, and for public governance mechanisms, such as labor laws and labor chapters in interstate trade agreements.

This paper focuses on the case of Mexico using a process tracing and qualitative case study analysis approach (Fairfield and Charman 2022). The first section of the paper explores labor’s influence in shaping the Mexico labor reform process of 2017-2019 and the establishment of the Rapid Response Labor Mechanisms of the USMCA from 2017-2020. The second part of the paper examines 12 cases in which labor leveraged state institutions via the reformed labor regime and petitioned the RRLM. It finds that the resulting impact on employment terms and conditions is significant. However, the most impactful cases involved large, final assembly production facilities where workers also have structural power. The paper draws on field research, interviews with major stakeholders, reviews of RRLM petitions, and a study of collective bargaining agreements.

This paper investigates possible effects of national and EU Global Value Chain Due Diligence legislation (DD) on labour rights for (informal) workers in producing countries. Human rights and environmental due diligence laws (HREDD laws) as the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, 2021 (GSCDDA), resp. EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), 2024 are currently supplemented by EU laws restricting access to the EU market, if importers cannot show due diligence in the production process, e.g. the EU Forced Labour Regulation, 2024.

Some analyses of HREDD laws exist, based on the design of the laws (Smit et al. 2020). This paper compares possible effects of HREDD and import restricting DD laws. Also, it connects these findings to GVC and trade regulation analysis as contextual factors influencing the effective application of DD laws for workers in producing countries. For the example of the apparel industry in India younger GVC literature (Teipen et al. 2022) shows little economic and social upgrading in a „market despotic“ system of industrial relations with weak trade unions. Trade regulation literature suggests that the effective implementation of extraterritorial DD laws depends strongly on the trade volume between countries (Bradford 2020). This paper examines how the GVC and trade settings influence the implementation of the new DD laws for workers in the apparel industry in India, and whether the laws in turn can reinforce worker strategies pushing for labour governance mechanisms with gains for workers (Anner 2021).

Research questions:

- What effects on workers in the apparel industry in India can be expected from GSCDDA/CSDDD in comparison with the EU Forced Labour Regulation?

- Which labour governance setting for the application of DD laws in India do GVC and trade regulation analysis describe?

- Can DD laws reinforce labour governance mechanisms with gains for workers in the apparal industry in India?

The paper is embedded in a research project on growth regimes, economic and social resilience of GVCs at Berlin School of Economics and Law, with research partner from JNU (Praveen Jha), University of the Witwatersrand (Ben Scully) and University of Campinas. Methodologically the paper uses qualitative and quantitative data in a mixed-method approach combining (i) (primary) document analysis, (ii) trade data, and (iii) semi-structured interviews to assess which responses to DD obligations are likely by supplier businesses, trade unions, NGOs and state actors.

Civil society campaigns drove the rise of ’voluntary’ social codes (VSCs) applied to suppliers by multinational companies (MNCs) to address poor conditions for workers in their global supply chains (GSCs) from the 1990s. Alongside this a large social compliance industry grew to audit and monitor private codes. Yet, research has indicated: (i) power imbalances between buyers and suppliers reflected in tensions between MNC purchasing practices and their social compliance requirements placed on suppliers; (ii) social compliance has failed to address many abuses of precarious workers at the base of supply chains, including gender-based violence (GBV). The failure of VSCs has contributed to movement towards regulatory approaches, building on human rights due diligence (HRDD) advocated under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This is encapsulated in the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and related legislation being rolled out in Europe.

This paper critically examines the shift from VSCs towards regulatory HRDD, and asks what are the implications for precarious workers at the base of global supply chains? It focuses on three dimensions: First, a critical comparison of VSC and HRDD approaches, and the extent to which these reach (let alone affect) precarious workers. Second, the analytical implications for governance of decent work in GSCs, given a shift between the governance domains from private/social towards greater public governance. Third, whether the roll out of regulatory HRDD is likely to replicate many of the mistakes of VSCs, with limited benefits for precarious workers?

The paper draws on 25 years of research on VSCs in agri-food and garments value chains, with a focus on gender and precarious workers in the global South. This is complemented by research conducted between 2023-25 focused on HRDD funded by a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. This involved over 40 key informant interviews with stakeholders (including companies, trade unions, NGOs, trade associations, multistakeholder initiatives, government and international bodies) conducted in person or virtually in the UK, Europe, Africa and Asia.

The paper concludes HRDD regulation has better potential than multiple disparate VSCs to enhance the rights of precarious workers by identifying HR risks at the base of GSCs, and enhancing their voice and bargaining power. But improvements will only occur if regulation also addresses the purchasing practices of MNCs that drive precarity. The paper comprises part of a planned book on ‘Fairer Trade in Global Supply Chains: Whither Voluntary Standards?’ planned for open access publication in 2026.

There is increasing awareness of the need to incorporate the perspectives of people with lived experiences of labour exploitation into the planning, development, and evaluation of research, policy and interventions. The incorporation of worker voice is crucial for the advancement of decent work worldwide. However, both worker and survivor participation are often missing elements in current decent work and forced labour efforts, and research is no exception. Building on the authors’ own experience engaging survivors as active project consultants to evaluate the effectiveness of the ‘Employer Pays Principle’ in preventing forced labour in the Malaysian glove sector, this paper describes some of the benefits and challenges of survivor engagement throughout the life of a project, and proposes challenge-mitigating strategies that can help advance both survivor engagement and workers’ lives.The presentation of this paper will include the contribution of an anonymous survivor consultant, which cannot be named at this point for security reasons