Richard M. Locke - The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy

Throughout the world, millions of people, both young and old, work long hours, under harsh conditions and for low wages, to make the goods most readers of this book consume every day. These workers citizenship rights are frequently violated, and their health, because of long work hours and hazardous working conditions, is often compromised. This book seeks to understand what, if anything, can be done to promote labor justice for these workers. Through an analysis of several private voluntary initiatives promoted by global corporations, lead suppliers/contract manufacturers, labor-friendly nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international organizations such as the International Labor Organization (ILO), this book sheds light on both the promise and the limitations of private power in enforcing labor standards for the millions of people employed in global supply chains. The central finding of this book is that working conditions and labor rights can only be promoted in our global economy through a mix of both private and public regulation. Private voluntary regulation is important in redressing labor abuses in global supply chain factories, but it is not enough. Without the support and legitimacy of government regulation, these private initiatives will produce only limited and often unsustainable improvements. In the chapters that follow, I illustrate how this is already taking place, notwithstanding significant resistance by powerful interests operating at different points of most global supply chains.

This book has a long history. It began ten years ago, through a series of conversations with my then MIT colleague Dara ORourke, while I was working on a teaching case about Nike and alternative conceptions of corporate responsibility. Although I had done work on labor politics before, I had never studied global supply chains and private voluntary regulation. Dara was an excellent mentor, and his enthusiasm for the topic was infectious. Trying to convince global corporations such as Nike to work with me, share their factory audit reports, and facilitate visits to their suppliers was not easy. It took years and many conversations and visits to corporate headquarters. But the time and effort paid off and as a result, what began as a case study evolved over the years into a full-fledged research project involving the collection, coding, and analysis of thousands of factory audit reports; more than 700 interviews with company managers, factory directors, NGO representatives, and government labor inspectors; as well as field research in 120 factories in 14 different countries. As such, the project evolved from a study of one company (Nike) in a particular industry (athletic footwear) to a research project covering several global corporations competing in different industries, with different supply chain dynamics, and operating across numerous country boundaries.