Abstract
As the International Labour Organization (ILO) approaches its 100th anniversary, it is apparent that, while its core mission remains much the same as in 1919, the global economy in which it functions is one that is far different from that which emerged during the decades right after the First World War. It may seem a truism that the advocacy of decent work, the maintenance of adequate labour standards and the assurance of workers’ collective bargaining rights have always been at the forefront of ILO concern. Certainly, the rhetoric of its leaders and the text of scores of conventions attest to the century-long importance of such norms. But, as several of the contributors to this volume have shown, such standard-setting ideals have sometimes been subordinated, either to the national and racial interests of the most consequential powers during the 1920s and 1930s, or in the early post-Second World War era, to an overwhelming fixation on economic development in a “Third World” where an effort to increase labour standards seemed but a recipe for trade deficits, capital flight and high levels of unemployment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
James Shotwell, ed., The Origins of the International Labor Organization (New York: Columbia University Press, 1934), 1, 105–26; ILO, The Rules of the Game: A Brief Introduction to International Labor Standards (Geneva: ILO, 2005), 12–16; Pauli Kettunen, “The ILO as a Forum for Developing and Demonstrating a Nordic Model,” in S. Kott and J. Droux, eds., Globalizing Social Rights: The International Labour Organization and Beyond (Basingstoke and Geneva: Palgrave Macmillan and ILO, 2013), 210–30.
Gay W. Seidman, Beyond the Boycott: Labor Rights. Human Rights, and Transnational Activism (New York: Russell Sage, 2007), 23–27, where she discusses the “thinning” of the modern regulatory State; and for what all this means for the ILO, see Jan Klabbers, “Marginalized International Organizations: Three Hypotheses Concerning the ILO,” in Roger Blanpain, ed., China and ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations, 86 (2014), 181–96.
Nelson Lichtenstein, The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2009), 1–9, 35–52; Excellent essays covering workers, entrepreneurs, and states in a single industry are found in G. Gereffi, D. Spender, and J. Bair, eds., Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002).
David Weil, The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).
For an overview of this literature see J. Bair, “Global Capitalism and Commodity Chains: Looking Back, Going Forward,” Competition and Change, 9, no.2 (June 2006), 129–56; Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, J. Hammon, and D. Weil, A Stitch in Time: Lean Retailing and the Transformation of Manufacturing — Lessons from the Apparel and Textile Industries (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); M. Petrovic and Gary G. Hamilton, “Making Global Markets: Wal-Mart and Its Suppliers,” in Nelson Lichtenstein, ed., Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First Century Capitalism (New York: New Press, 2006), 107–42; G. Gereffi, J. Humphrey, and T. Sturgeon, “The Governance of Global Value Chains,” Review of International Political Economy, 12 (February 2005), 79–82; and N. Lichtenstein, “The Return of Merchant Capitalism,” International Labor and Working-Class History, no.81 (Spring, 2012), 8–27.
G. Bennett and F. Williams, Mainstream Green: Moving Sustainability from Niche to Normal (New York: Ogilvy & Mather, 2011) (online).
J. Esbenshade, “A Review of Private Regulation: Codes and Monitoring in the Apparel Industry,” Sociology Compass, 6, no.7 (July 2012), 541–56; M. Anner, “The Limits of Voluntary Governance Programs: Auditing Labor Rights in the Global Apparel Industry,” Penn State Project for Global Worker Rights, working paper 001 (March 2012); P. Ngai and Y. Xiaomin, “Wal-Martinization, Corporate Social Responsibility and the Labor Standards of Toy Factories in South China,” in Anita Chan, ed., Wal-Mart in China (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012), 34–70.
Kim D. Reimann, “A View from the Top: International Politics, Norms, and the World-wide Growth of NGOs,” International Studies Quarterly, 50, no.1 (March 2006), 45–67.
T. Bartley and C. Child, “Shaming the Corporation: The Social Production of Targets and the Anti-Sweatshop Movement,” American Sociological Review, 79 (August 2014), 653–79; A typical SACOM Press Release headlined, “Poisoned Workers Demand Steve Jobs Successor Live Up to CSR,” 26 August 2011, at http://www.sacom.hk/?p=879. It was then picked up as Robert Johnson, “New Sweatshop Scandals for Disney, Mattel and Apple,” Business Insider, 29 August 2011 (online).
P. Ngai, “Global Production, Company Codes of Conduct, and Labor Conditions in China: A Case Study of Two Factories,” China Journal, 5 (July 2005), 101–13; R. Ross, “The Twilight of CSR: Life and Death Illuminated by Fire,” unpublished essay in author’s possession.
K. Raworth and T. Kidder, “Mimicking ‘Lean’ in Global Value Chains: It’s the Workers Who Get Leaned On,” in J. Bair, ed., Frontiers of Commodity Chain Research (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009), 165–89.
A. Chan, “Unionizing Chinese Wal-Mart Stores,” in A. Chan, ed., Wal-Mart in China (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011); C. Estlund and S. Gurgel, “Will Labour Unrest Lead to More Democratic Trade Unions in China?” in R. Blanpain, ed., China and ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations, 86, 87–108.
E. Sims, “Getting the Most Out of Company Efforts to Protect Workers’ Rights: A View from the ILO Helpdesk for Business,” unpublished paper delivered at the “Workers ’ Rights in a Global Economy” conference, Bellagio, Italy, July 2013, 7.
Ibid., 7–8.
Kevin Kolben, “Trade, Monitoring, and the ILO: Working to Improve Conditions in Cambodia’s Garment Factories,” Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal, 7 (2004), 79–107.
D. Arnold and T. H. Shih, “A Fair Model of Globalisation? Labour and Global Production in Cambodia,” Journal of Contemporary Asia, 4, no.3 (August 2010), 407.
H. Wrinkle, “Better Factories Cambodia: Transparency and Workers Rights,” unpublished Masters Thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2011, 25.
Allie Robbins, “The Future of the Student Antisweatshop Movement: Providing Access to US Courts for Garment Workers Worldwide,” American University Labor & Employment Law Forum, 3 (2013), 131–36.
Steven Greenhouse, “US Retailers See Big Risk in Safety Plan for Factories in Bangladesh,” New York Times, 22 May 2013.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 International Labour Organization
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lichtenstein, N. (2016). The ILO and the Corporate Social Responsibility Regime in East and South Asia. In: Jensen, J.M., Lichtenstein, N. (eds) The ILO from Geneva to the Pacific Rim. International Labour Organization (ILO) Century Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137570901_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137570901_13
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57592-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-57090-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)