Between legitimacy and cost: freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in global supply chains

Li, Chunyun ORCID: 0000-0001-5909-0889, Kuruvilla, Sarosh and Bae, Jinsun (2024) Between legitimacy and cost: freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in global supply chains. ILR Review. ISSN 0019-7939 (In Press)

Text (Freedom of association and collective bargaining in global supply chains 2024 May) - Accepted Version Download (546kB)

Abstract

Scholars and practitioners have advocated for freedom of association and collective bargaining (FOA/CB) rights as a key mechanism to improve labor compliance in global supply chains. Drawing on a longitudinal dataset comprising 6,500 Better Work audits across seven countries from 2015 to 2021, the authors compare violations of different FOA/CB elements to provide a general picture of the progress and problems of FOA/CB in supplier workplaces. They argue that suppliers are likely to selectively comply with FOA/CB elements that afford them some legitimacy, but violate the elements that impose significant costs to them. Specifically, they find fewer violations of union formation rights, in contrast to higher violations of union operation rights and of collective bargaining rights. Yet, when these latter rights are respected, they are associated with better compliance with other employment standards with effective collective bargaining having the strongest effect.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024
Divisions:	Management
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Date Deposited:	07 Oct 2024 17:12
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2024 10:06
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125645

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