Labor Regimes, Global Production Networks, and European Union Trade Policy: Labor Standards and Export Production in the Moldovan Clothing Industry

Smith, Adrian; Barbu, Mirela; Campling, Liam; Harrison, James; Richardson, Ben

doi:10.1080/00130095.2018.1434410

Cited by 73 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…This was part of the first stage of the project which was followed by a further round of sectoral and value chain interviews in key export sectors in each case study; see, for example,Smith et al (2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

Governing Labour Standards through Free Trade Agreements: Limits of the European Union's Trade and Sustainable Development Chapters

Harrison

Barbu

Campling

et al. 2018

J of Common Market Studies

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The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). To examine the operationalization of this framework, we draw upon 121 interviews undertaken with key informants in three FTAs signed with the Caribbean, South Korea and Moldova. We engage with wider debates over external governance and the projection of EU power by showing how operational failings, including a lack of legal and political prioritization of TSD chapters and shortcomings in the implementation of key provisions, have hindered the impact of the FTAs upon labour standards. We also identify significant limitations to the EU's 'common formulation' approach when applied to different trading partner contexts, alongside ambiguities about the underlying purpose of the trade-labour linkage. Reflection about the function and purpose of labour standards provisions in EU trade policy is therefore required.

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confidence: 99%

Governing Labour Standards through Free Trade Agreements: Limits of the European Union's Trade and Sustainable Development Chapters

Harrison

Barbu

Campling

et al. 2018

J of Common Market Studies

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“…Labour rights and agency in GVCs have been a growing focus of research. However, scholars have adopted different approaches to labour, ranging from the issue of labour control regimes (Smith et al, 2018) and the labour process (Taylor et al, 2013), to worker agency and resistance (Coe & Jordhus-Lier, 2011;Selwyn, 2012), to labour standards linked to social upgrading (Barrientos et al, 2011). Moreover, and intersecting with aspects of private governance, the creation and enforcement of labour codes by NGOs such as Clean Clothes Campaign as well as multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative or the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Better Work Programme, bring together government, trade unions, suppliers and buyers (Bair, 2017).…”

Section: Public Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, trade unions are generally established and act within frameworks prescribed in countries' labour legislation, which effectively blurs the distinction between public and social governance. Hence, our preference for the use of the term 'labour regimes' as this more accurately captures how rules in respect of labour are framed and implemented, and the impact that labour organisations and trade unions play in shaping the resulting practices (Smith et. al., 2018).…”

Section: Private and Public: A Dynamic Interaction Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On public governance, we investigate the interaction across three distinct regimes: 'trade regimes' influenced by regional and global preferential trade agreements; 'investment regimes' under national investment strategies; and 'labour regimes' defined by wage differentials, national labour regulations and the effectiveness of trade unions. The term 'regime' recognises that the rules and incentives that underlie public governance involve a combination of policy regulation, policy implementation and the role of public and private institutional actors that influence this process (Smith et al, 2018). Second, we empirically evaluate this framework through a study of the apparel RVCs in Southern Africa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding regional value chains through the interaction of public and private governance: Insights from Southern Africa’s apparel sector

2020

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Regional value chains (RVCs) and South–South trade are increasingly considered key features of 21st-century globalisation. This article investigates how RVCs are shaped by the interaction of private and public governance. It evaluates how this interaction unfolded in Southern Africa’s apparel RVCs, exploring trade, investment and labour regimes across three levels of analysis: national, regional, and global. The paper draws on trade data, secondary literature, and interviews with suppliers and institutions in Eswatini and Lesotho (the largest exporters to the region), and lead firms in South Africa (the largest regional importer). The findings underline the critical role of public governance in shaping retailers’ and suppliers’ participation in RVCs through: (i) regional ‘trade regimes’ protecting regional exporters from global competitors, and recent shifts in global trade regimes; (ii) national and regional ‘investment regimes’ facilitating investment flows from South Africa to Lesotho and Eswatini, and the more recent shift of US-oriented suppliers towards regional markets; and (iii) ‘labour regimes’, including lower wages, less comprehensive labour legislation and weaker trade unions in Lesotho and Eswatini compared to South Africa. The article concludes by considering the policy implications of the interaction of private and public governance for existing and future RVCs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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“…Second, FSU republics deploy aggressive forms of ethno-nationalism against migrants (Morrison and Cretu 2018;Mukomel 2014:7). Moldova, where research participants originate, has significant migration flows, especially in construction, (Mosneaga 2015;Smith et al 2018) and intensified nationalism, being dubbed 'a notorious case of heavy-handed and callous nation-building' (Van Meurs 2015: 191).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration, Ethnicity and Solidarity: ‘Multinational Workers’ in the Former Soviet Union

Morrison

Sacchetto

Croucher

2020

Brit J Industrial Rel

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We investigate migrant construction workers' experiences in the Former Soviet Union, examining their attitudes to other ethno-national groups, unions and collective action. Industrial relations and migration studies view migrant workers hypermobility and diversity, under conditions of low union coverage and rising nationalism, as potentially obstructing consciousness raising and mobilizing. Workers participating in our study faced unions indifference, ethno-national segregation and discrimination. Managerial abuses, informality and contestation from below led to spontaneous mobilisation. Lack of institutional channels to solve these disputes drove them into further mobility. However, complex mobility trajectories and collective action translated into increased awareness of collective interests and rejection of nationalist ideologies. The outcome is a 'multinational worker' potentially resistant to nation-state politics and capital's logics but also aware of the values and usefulness of collective solidarities. Thus, previous arguments uniquely associating exit with individualistic attitudes, and post-socialist legacies with workers' quiescence present only partial pictures.

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Labor Regimes, Global Production Networks, and European Union Trade Policy: Labor Standards and Export Production in the Moldovan Clothing Industry

Cited by 73 publications

References 55 publications

Governing Labour Standards through Free Trade Agreements: Limits of the European Union's Trade and Sustainable Development Chapters

Governing Labour Standards through Free Trade Agreements: Limits of the European Union's Trade and Sustainable Development Chapters

Understanding regional value chains through the interaction of public and private governance: Insights from Southern Africa’s apparel sector

Migration, Ethnicity and Solidarity: ‘Multinational Workers’ in the Former Soviet Union

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