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Legislative regulation of global value chains to protect workers: A preliminary assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Michael Rawling
Michael Rawling*
Affiliation:
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
*
Michael Rawling, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123 Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Email: michael.rawling@uts.edu.au
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Abstract

This article argues for domestic legislative regulation of global value chains to protect offshore workers. First, it outlines the policy reasons necessitating such legislation. Empirical evidence confirms that global value chains are a dominant feature of the global economy. It is contended that lead firms wield influence in global value chains in a manner which leads to poor outcomes for offshore workers. Second, the article sets out the minimum steps necessary for a domestic state to attribute the responsibility for transparency of global value chains to lead firms. Then, it proceeds to explore the possibilities and limits of the proposed scheme of regulation. Despite some complexities with implementing the scheme, it is argued that if domestic legislative regulation of global value chains strengthens even to a small extent the monitoring of global labour issues, it is worth pursuing.

Keywords

K5L1L5Globalisationindustrial/employment relations policylabour rightsnon-standard employmentoccupational healthoccupational safetyprecarious worksupply chainvulnerable workers

Information

Type
Non-Special Collection Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 26 , Issue 4: Special Collection: Union Organising and Revitalisation , December 2015 , pp. 660 - 677
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015

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