Achieving Workers' Rights in the Global Economy

Richard P. Appelbaum is Research Professor and MacArthur Foundation Chair in the Departments of Sociology and Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The author or editor of many books, he is coeditor most recently of Can Emerging Technologies Make a Difference in Development? Nelson Lichtenstein is MacArthur Foundation Chair in History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy. He is the author or editor of many books, including most recently State of the Union: A Century of American Labor.

Achieving Workers' Rights in the Global Economy seeks to understand why sweatshops continue in the apparel industry despite the 20-year-long investment in private regulation (monitoring corporate codes of conduct) by major brands and retailers.... In sum, Achieving Workers' Rights in the Global Economy is an important book that is particularly useful as a textbook for students learning about the barriers to effective improvements in labor standards, as well as for useful pathways to explore for the future. In addition, practitioners will gain from the discussion of potential avenues forward.- Matthew Fischer-Daly (ILR Review) Fourteen papers analyze the system of world capitalism under which the majority of workers labor, explaining how corporate social responsibility (CSR) has failed to achieve its professed objectives, different approaches to the governance of global suply chains, the prospects for workers' rights in China, and the way forward for labor rights.(JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC LITERATURE)

• Introduction: Achieving Workers' Rights in the Global Economy Richard P. Appelbaum and Nelson LichtensteinPart I SELF-GOVERNANCE: THE CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY1. Outsourcing Horror: Why Apparel Workers Are Still Dying, One Hundred Years after Triangle Shirtwaist Scott Nova and Chris Wegemer2. From Public Regulation to Private Enforcement: How CSR Became Managerial OrthodoxyRichard P. Appelbaum3. Corporate Social Responsibility: Moving from Checklist Monitoring to Contractual Obligation? Jill Esbenshade4. The Twilight of CSR: Life and Death Illuminated by Fire Robert J. S. RossPart II GOVERNANCE OF GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORKS5. The Demise of Tripartite Governance and the Rise of the Corporate Social Responsibility Regime Nelson Lichtenstein6. Deepening Compliance?: Multistakeholder Communication in Monitoring Labor Standards in the Value Chains of Brazil’s Apparel Industry Anne Caroline Posthuma and Renato Bignami7. Law and the Global Sweatshop Problem Brishen Rogers8. Assessing the Risks of Participation in Global Value Chains Gary Gereffi and Xubei LuoPart III PROSPECTS FOR WORKERS’ RIGHTS IN CHINA9. Apple, Foxconn, and China’s New Working Class Jenny Chan, Ngai Pun, and Mark Selden10. Labor Transformation in China: Voices from the Frontlines Katie Quan11. CSR and Trade Union Elections at Foreign-Owned Chinese Factories Anita ChanPart IV A WAY FORWARD?12. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Higg Index: A New Approach for the Apparel and Footwear Industry Jason Kibbey13. Learning from the Past: The Relevance of Twentieth-Century New York Jobbers’ Agreements for Twenty-First-Century Global Supply Chains Mark Anner, Jennifer Bair, and Jeremy Blasi14. Workers of the World Unite!: The Strategy of the International Union League for Brand Responsibility Jeff Hermanson