Nikolaus Hammer

Prospects for Labour in Global Value Chains: Labour Standards in the Cut Flower and Banana Industries

Global value chain (GVC) governance is central to analyses of labours strategic options. It frames the terrain on which labour campaigns and institutions — such as private social standards and international framework agreements — contribute to the social regulation of value chains. GVC concepts help to emphasize how power in the employment relationship transcends organizational boundaries, as well as how industrial power is shifting from the sphere of production to that of consumption. Based on extensive case studies of the banana and cut flower value chains, we explore the implications of GVC restructuring for the scope and form of labour rights strategies.

Labour standards and capacity in global subcontracting chains: evidence from a construction MNC

This article investigates how fundamental labour rights specified in international framework agreements are implemented and monitored in subcontracting chains. It shows how labours capacity for workplace-based monitoring is influenced by factors such as ownership structures, the societal context, and, most importantly, the institutions and dynamics of local labour control.

Organizing networks and alliances: International unionism between the local and the global

After being pushed onto the defensive through the institutions of the Washington Consensus as well as unilateral management action in MNEs in the 1980 and 1990s, international trade unionism is making headlines again. Trade unions are part of multi-faceted campaigns to secure fundamental labour rights (Riisgaard and Hammer 2011) and to regain influence in the workplace. While these rights, based on the ILO core labour standards and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, constitute a common plank in the various campaigns, the latter are conducted through a variety of organizational forms. A large number of IFAs, for example, have been achieved against the background of established union networks within MNEs as well as the institutional platform of European works councils (EWCs); others only serve as a starting point for creating such international union networks. Thus, it should not be surprising that union networks can take different forms, have diverse power constellations, and serve different purposes.

Cross-border cooperation under asymmetry: The case of an Interregional Trade Union Council

In order to protect minimum wage and social standards in cross-border regions marked by considerable economic disparities, trade unions have built cooperation structures across adjoining (usually sub-national) regions. Since the 1970s more than 40 Interregional Trade Union Councils (IRTUCs) have been established. This article investigates emerging practices of cross-border trade union cooperation in the West Pannonia region between eastern Austria and western Hungary. It argues that IRTUCs can play an important role in fuelling cooperation to preserve wages and labour rights in cross-border regions, particularly in sectors with high precarious employment. While actual practices are contingent on regional union strategies as well as industrial relations and labour market institutions, cross-border cooperation occupies an important place within European industrial relations practices and can support new forms of capacity-building.

Near‐Sourcing UK Apparel: Value Chain Restructuring, Productivity and the Informal Economy

Fast fashions emphasis on quick response production and supply chain management is at the basis of renewed growth in UK apparel manufacturing. This article shows how increasing pressure from lead firms has resulted in manufacturers maintaining profit levels, mainly, through informal subcontracting and informal employment, as opposed to increasing productivity.