Thomas Huw, Anner Mark
College of Business, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
School of Labor and Employment Relations, Penn State University, State College, USA.
J Bus Ethics. 2023;184(1):33-49. doi: 10.1007/s10551-022-05177-z. Epub 2022 Jun 22.
Global supply chains (GSCs) present the International Labour Organization (ILO) with a challenge that goes to the heart of its founding mandate and structure, one built on the prominence of nation states and national representatives of employers and workers. In February 2020, discussions in the ILO on the rise of GSCs reached deadlock. To fully understand why the ILO has been unable to address decent work deficits in GSCs greater attention needs to be paid to contestation, power and legitimacy in the deliberation of labour governance. Drawing on the concept of agonistic pluralism we examine the evolution of the ILO's attempt to establish a new labour standard on GSCs under three empirical phases between 2002 and 2020. We argue that shifting power asymmetries between the tripartite constituents of governments, employers and workers, increased counter-hegemonic contestation, and intensified questioning of the deliberative legitimacy of the adversaries, explain the dissensual relations at the ILO. This article contributes to the literature on labour standards in GSCs in demonstrating how and why contestation underpins the evolution of labour governance over time.
全球供应链（GSCs）给国际劳工组织（ILO）带来了一项挑战，这一挑战直指其创始使命和结构的核心，该使命和结构建立在民族国家以及雇主和工人的国家代表的突出地位之上。2020年2月，国际劳工组织关于全球供应链兴起的讨论陷入僵局。为了充分理解为何国际劳工组织未能解决全球供应链中体面工作的不足问题，需要更加关注劳动治理审议中的争议、权力和合法性。借鉴竞争多元主义的概念，我们考察了2002年至2020年三个实证阶段中，国际劳工组织试图为全球供应链制定新劳动标准的演变过程。我们认为，政府、雇主和工人三方组成部分之间权力不对称的变化、反霸权争议的增加以及对对手审议合法性的质疑加剧，解释了国际劳工组织内部的分歧关系。本文通过展示争议如何以及为何随着时间推移支撑劳动治理的演变，为关于全球供应链劳动标准的文献做出了贡献。
