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"How Can I Trust These White Monkeys?!" Union-Buyer Communication and Working Conditions in the Indonesian Sportswear Industry

Hansson, Karin LU (2010) MIDM70 20101
LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
Abstract
Widespread abuse of labour rights, leading to poor working conditions, is a major problem in many developing countries. Pressure from civil society has led international buyers to set up corporate codes of conduct (CoCs) and monitoring mechanisms, in order to ensure that labour rights are respected by their suppliers in these countries. However, research has shown that these efforts have been moderately successful at best, and it has been widely argued that one reason for this is the lack of involvement of civil society groups and workers in CoC processes. There is a distinct lack of research into union involvement, and aim of this study was to address this gap by exploring direct communication between buyers and unions in the Indonesian... (More)
Widespread abuse of labour rights, leading to poor working conditions, is a major problem in many developing countries. Pressure from civil society has led international buyers to set up corporate codes of conduct (CoCs) and monitoring mechanisms, in order to ensure that labour rights are respected by their suppliers in these countries. However, research has shown that these efforts have been moderately successful at best, and it has been widely argued that one reason for this is the lack of involvement of civil society groups and workers in CoC processes. There is a distinct lack of research into union involvement, and aim of this study was to address this gap by exploring direct communication between buyers and unions in the Indonesian sportswear industry. This was done by interviewing selected buyers and unions, and it was found that there is fairly limited communication between them, despite mutually perceived benefits that outweigh perceived disadvantages. Obstacles to communication are perceived very differently by the two groups, but it is concluded that the main obstacle is buyer attitudes to communicating with unions, and toward supply chain responsibility. The paper concludes with a discussion of how circumstances conducive to communication could be created. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hansson, Karin LU
supervisor
organization
course
MIDM70 20101
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
development, labour rights, supply chain, CSR, labour union
language
English
id
1607216
date added to LUP
2010-11-09 14:33:26
date last changed
2011-01-21 13:49:09
@misc{1607216,
  abstract     = {{Widespread abuse of labour rights, leading to poor working conditions, is a major problem in many developing countries. Pressure from civil society has led international buyers to set up corporate codes of conduct (CoCs) and monitoring mechanisms, in order to ensure that labour rights are respected by their suppliers in these countries. However, research has shown that these efforts have been moderately successful at best, and it has been widely argued that one reason for this is the lack of involvement of civil society groups and workers in CoC processes. There is a distinct lack of research into union involvement, and aim of this study was to address this gap by exploring direct communication between buyers and unions in the Indonesian sportswear industry. This was done by interviewing selected buyers and unions, and it was found that there is fairly limited communication between them, despite mutually perceived benefits that outweigh perceived disadvantages. Obstacles to communication are perceived very differently by the two groups, but it is concluded that the main obstacle is buyer attitudes to communicating with unions, and toward supply chain responsibility. The paper concludes with a discussion of how circumstances conducive to communication could be created.}},
  author       = {{Hansson, Karin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{"How Can I Trust These White Monkeys?!" Union-Buyer Communication and Working Conditions in the Indonesian Sportswear Industry}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}