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Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies for Public Control and Accountability Wenke Christoph Guangzhou, Dec. 4-6 2011

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Global Production Networks: A regulatory challenge Fordism: Taylorist mass-production, collective

bargaining, strong trade unions and redistributive politics

Emergence of global production networks (GPN): - relocation of production - downward competitive pressure on wages &

working conditions - imbalance of power, capacity for regulation

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Global Production Networks: A regulatory challenge Corporate accountability campaigns Corporate/industry codes of conduct /

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Multiple stakeholder regulation/monitoring

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Corporate accountability campaigns Child labor/forced labor in textile industry (NIKE,

Reebook, The Gap) „Clean up your computer!“-campaign MakeITfair, PC Global, iSlave, …

- reports on labor & environmental conditions - public awareness campaigns “naming & shaming“

ProcureITfair: socially & environmentally responsible public procurement

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Corporate codes of conduct / CSR

Reaction to criticism and campaigns on working conditions

Scope: forced labor, child labor, discrimination, wages and benefits, working hours, occupational safety and health, working environment

Part of strategic brand policies, accompanied by internal monitoring/auditing mechanisms, CSR departments and reports

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Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) Global brands, major contract manufacturers, large

software companies Lack of enforcement mechanisms, verification

requirements, low level of commitment no full protection of free association, collective

bargaining

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Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) ICT industry, emphasis on telecommunications

sector supported by UNEP and International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) publication of voluntary sustainability approaches,

support industry contributions to sustainable development

GeSI-EICC Supply Chain Working Group: development of evaluation procedures for the implementation of EICC by suppliers

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Multiple stakeholder regulation

Result of broadening of NGO campaigns & supported by US and European governments

Predominantly in textile industry: WRAP, FLA, FWF, WRC

SA8000: 2,680 factories in 61 countries certified China: 392 companies, 98 in textile industry, 66 in

electronics/appliances sector 1-day audits, dependent on voluntary provision of

information by brands and factories

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What difference does CSR make?

Introduction of capital-defined labor rights supported by new business ethics and institutions

Re-regulation of labor relations by global firms: “re-organized moralism” (Pun Ngai)

Contradictory regime: cost-sensitive global just-in-time factory regimes vs. systems & procedures to implement commitment to labor standards

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What difference does CSR make?

Co-optation of labor politics by the companies & Politics of containment:

No genuine concern for labor rights, workers’ representation or participation

using complaint mechanisms and trade unions as business institutions for facilitating production and business goals

managerial paternalism with labor rights granted from above

confining labor rights and struggles to company codes as a top-down regulatory process

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What difference does CSR make?

Peter Utting (UNRISD): “At best, CSR can contribute to raising awareness of

certain social and environmental problems and serve to caution against blind faith in both market forces and state regulatory capacity. […]

At worst, CSR involves a transfer of regulatory authority to largely unaccountable agents and renders more stable and palatable a model of capitalism that generates or reinforces widespread social exclusion, inequality and environmental degradation. ”

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What CSR doesn‘t solve: Challenges to labor regulation (1) Transparency (2) Purchasing practices (3) Empowerment & local regulation (4) Connecting the dots

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Transparency

Independent, multi-stakeholder mechanisms that can be made publicly accessible (e.g. SA8000) (1) legitimacy (2) rigor (3) accountability (4) complementarity

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Purchasing practices

Double standards: buyers' demands directly undermine compliance with their own codes of labor practice

Further burden for suppliers: demand to produce at lower prices, but also to invest in social and environmental standards

Financial responsibility and purchasing practices of global brands need to be addressed

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Empowerment & local regulation

CSR as paternalist granting of rights/conditions but means of providing workers with agency or empowering them

Focusing on CSR for the improvement of labor conditions could undermine effective labor law enforcement by local governments and trade unions

CSR is not an alternative but a supplement to labor law enforcement and collective bargaining

Workers to be involved in negotiating solutions to problems and determining workplace conditions

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Connecting the dots

Resolution of labor issues in GPN requires a global perspective: power imbalances, lacking transparency and accountability

connecting actions and policies of trade unions, NGOs, (local) governments to produce linkages between production workers and consumers, to form a common frame of reference for the regulation of GPNs

Necessity for pressure and counter-powers to force the winners of globalization to submit to regulation and redistribution

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Thank you! 谢谢！