TY - JOUR
T1 - Supply chains and unfree labor:
T2 - regulatory failure in the case of Samsung Electronics in Slovakia
AU - Andrijasevic, Rutvica
AU - Novitz, Tonia
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - The protection of labour rights of temporary migrant workers in global supply chains requires further theoretical and policy research. Through the case of Serbian workers in Slovak electronics supply chains, we look at how the transnational recruitment of labour via temporary work agencies (TWAs) for globally organised production generates heightened forms of exploitation and unfree labour relations. We show that such exploitation occurs in a regulatory framework consisting of various instruments ranging from the Palermo Protocol specific to trafficking, to EU law addressing the mobility of workers, and corporate codes of conduct aimed at guaranteeing worker rights within supply chains. Paradoxically, despite an overregulated field, existing instruments fail to offer a straightforward avenue for redress. We suggest that this failure is an outcome of the current legal and corporate regulatory matrix that allows market competition through work practices that violate basic labour standards and produce the conditions that enable and sustain unfree labour relations, while normalising exploitation in supply chains.
AB - The protection of labour rights of temporary migrant workers in global supply chains requires further theoretical and policy research. Through the case of Serbian workers in Slovak electronics supply chains, we look at how the transnational recruitment of labour via temporary work agencies (TWAs) for globally organised production generates heightened forms of exploitation and unfree labour relations. We show that such exploitation occurs in a regulatory framework consisting of various instruments ranging from the Palermo Protocol specific to trafficking, to EU law addressing the mobility of workers, and corporate codes of conduct aimed at guaranteeing worker rights within supply chains. Paradoxically, despite an overregulated field, existing instruments fail to offer a straightforward avenue for redress. We suggest that this failure is an outcome of the current legal and corporate regulatory matrix that allows market competition through work practices that violate basic labour standards and produce the conditions that enable and sustain unfree labour relations, while normalising exploitation in supply chains.
KW - Unfree labour
KW - electronics supply chain
KW - labour rights
KW - temporary migrant workers
KW - posting of workers
U2 - 10.1080/23322705.2020.1691817
DO - 10.1080/23322705.2020.1691817
M3 - Special issue (Academic Journal)
SN - 2332-2705
VL - 6
SP - 195
EP - 208
JO - Journal of Human Trafficking
JF - Journal of Human Trafficking
IS - 2
ER -