How do regional coalitions shape the enforcement of international labour standards? This study investigates this question in the context of port state control (PSC), a key enforcement mechanism in global maritime labour governance. Drawing on 125,041 vessel-level inspection records from seven regional PSC regimes between 2023 and 2024, the study shows that vessels are significantly less likely to be cited for labour-related deficiencies when the port state and the flag state belong to the same regional PSC coalition, indicating systematic ‘in-group’ leniency. This relationship is moderated by bilateral trade dependence. Stronger trade dependence between port and flag states weakens coalition-based bias, but at the expense of seafarers’ labour protections. Further analyses show that coalition-based bias exists for both flags of convenience and non-flags of convenience vessels, and is more pronounced in non-initial inspections. Taken together, these findings challenge the conventional assumption that PSC operates as a neutral and technocratic enforcement regime. More broadly, the study contributes to research on workplace geopolitics by showing how overlapping regional coalitions and economic relations shape the implementation of international labour standards.
Amid supply-chain restructuring triggered by US–China trade frictions, this study examines labour mobility among non-standard workers in China's export manufacturing sector. Drawing on four rounds of fieldwork undertaken between 2021 and 2024 as part of a longitudinal case study of rattan weavers at a leading Chinese manufacturer of outdoor leisure products, this study argues that weavers’ labour mobility is better understood not merely as an ad hoc response to employment precarity, but as a livelihood practice shaped by the interaction between buyer-driven global production regimes and China's labour regulatory framework premised on stable employment relationships, and organised through contractor-mediated networks. US–China trade frictions prompted global buyers to recalibrate governance arrangements in response to geopolitical risk, accelerating supply-chain restructuring. These changes intensified employment precarity and reconfigured weavers’ labour mobility from predominantly short-term and sector-bound circulation to more prolonged and differentiated forms of labour-market repositioning. Kinship- and locality-based ties supported this reconfiguration by enabling collective sense-making and facilitating access to alternative employment. The analysis develops a relational account of the translation of geopolitical pressures into workers’ employment experiences and livelihood practices, while theorising the reconfiguration of mobility strategies amid geopolitically induced supply-chain restructuring.
This paper provides measures of violations of labour regulations that vary across space, time, and type of regulation, allowing for a rich analysis of worker vulnerability. We compute a multidimensional index of labour violations that covers minimum wages, leave benefits and social security in eight West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo); and measures the persistence of violations over time using individual-level data (2019 to 2022). Overall, we find that three out of four employees in the region are multiply deprived; and, when restricting to longitudinal data, we observe that the multidimensional labour violation index is quite persistent over time, with only 21.5% of employees changing status over the three-year period. These results highlight the structural nature of the phenomena, and the need to foster both workers’ well-being and the rule of law in West Africa.
Studies on Chinese workplace regimes in Africa have evolved from treating them as uniformly exploitative to unpacking a far more variegated landscape. However, existing analyses often treat local workers as an undifferentiated mass. This article challenges such views by examining Chinese apparel multinationals in Ethiopia's Hawassa Special Economic Zone through an Integrated Workplace Regime (IWR) framework that theorises workplace regimes as outcomes co-constructed through micro-level struggles between workers and management, mediated by institutional forces from capital's home, host, and buyer countries. Analysing empirical data collected through interviews and group discussions with 99 informants involving officials, management, workers, and community members, we identified a trifurcated structure of employment relations within the same firms: a dormitory regime for expatriate workers; responsible autonomy for core local workers; and market despotism for peripheral local workers. By foregrounding the reproductive sphere and buyer-country dynamics in the IWR framework, which are often overlooked in existing frameworks, this study advances theorisation of workplace regimes in global production networks and offers new empirical depth to debates on Chinese capital in Africa.
This study examines what ‘decent work’ looks like in contexts where most workers operate outside formal employment. Focusing on Ghana's urban informal economy, it explores the lived experiences of market traders, street vendors, and drivers. Using a qualitative phenomenological design, semi-structured interviews with 30 informal workers were thematically analysed. The findings reveal entrenched precarity, including long working hours, unstable income, hazardous environments, limited access to credit, and weak social protection. These conditions contribute to stress, health challenges, and strained family relationships, with differences across gender, education, occupation, and experience. Despite these constraints, workers express clear expectations for improved infrastructure, inclusive social protection, skill development, and stronger stakeholder support. From a stakeholder perspective, the study shows that informal workers operate within a fragmented system of engagement where support is uneven and often insufficient. It extends stakeholder theory by demonstrating how workers navigate and engage with multiple stakeholders while expressing expectations for improved coordination. The study offers a nuanced understanding of how decent work can be advanced in informal labour contexts.
In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), divisions in the institutionalisation and formalisation of employment relations are found across all sectors. The informal economy, which accounts for an estimated 83% of employment, is a defining characteristic of SSA and must be central to any discussion of employment regulation and decent work policies. This raises fundamental questions about the relevance of existing frameworks for regulation, voice and representation, unionisation and work organisation when applied to contexts where formal labour law covers only a minority of workers. This special issue examines different aspects of decent work, including the experiences of blue-collar and platform workers, mechanisms for building worker voice, the obstacles that these efforts encounter, and the difficulties that informal unions and workers face in advocating for decent work. Drawing on the work of African labour scholars and the papers in this collection, the editorial argues for a context-specific approach to decent work policy in SSA. An approach that aligns with the developmental realities of SSA and with the lived experiences of workers and worker voice in the region.
Union identity is widely seen as important to how trade unions function, yet it remains unclear how strongly it is embraced by members. We address this gap with a focus on German unions. In his seminal work on the ‘eternal triangle’ of union identity, Hyman situates German unions between the ‘market’ and ‘society’ dimensions. We examine whether members embraced their union's identity at a time when German unions faced intense political and economic challenges. Specifically, from the early 2000s, Germany implemented controversial labour market and welfare reforms, followed by the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. Drawing on a large, unpublished dataset of German employees (n = 2281) surveyed in 2008, we use regression analysis to compare the attitudes of union members and non-members towards labour market regulation and the evolving welfare state. We find that these union members do subscribe to German union identity, and that this identity is most strongly embraced by members of unions affiliated with the DGB confederation, the mainstay of German unionism.
The competition between the United States and China is often framed as a second Cold War. While the first Cold War coincided with rising wages, at least within European welfare states, today's rivalry tends toward a race to the bottom in labour conditions. Contemporary strategic competition is driven less by ideology and more by the pursuit of influence through control over productive, financial, and digital infrastructures, where labour exploitation remains central. This paper examines the implications for Brazil's emerging economy, focusing on the expansion of Chinese and U.S. investments in the country's e-commerce sector, which attracts firms like Amazon, Shein, Temu, and AliExpress. We ask whether this intensified competition enhances Brazil's bargaining power in ways that could improve domestic labour conditions. Drawing on extensive empirical evidence, including interviews, statistical data, and policy reports from the pivotal garment sector, our conclusion is negative. Surging investment in logistics and digital infrastructure has been accompanied by strategic agreements, particularly between China, domestic suppliers, and existing platforms. Yet Brazil's structural constraints, aggravated by intensified global competition, have weakened domestic industrial development and labour leverage. This case illustrates a broader pattern: intensified geoeconomic rivalry has deepened integration into global networks of labour informalisation and precarity.
This article challenges the assumed link between Hyman's theory of trade union identity (2001) and union positioning on just transition policies. Through a sectoral case study, we question the correspondence established in the literature between union identity and just transition when excluding the influence of contextual and sectoral differences. This analysis uses unions in the Canadian province of Quebec's construction industry to focus on differences emerging from organisational identities and internal structures. We compare the results with theoretical work and empirical ones studying union organisations in different countries and, or activity sectors. While some unions align with the literature, others exhibit a disconnect between identity and action. Notably, some market-oriented unions demonstrate an affirmative position on the just transition, while others remain indifferent. We also discuss the role of the state as perceived by unions as a pivotal entity in advancing just transition policies. The findings suggest that multiple factors beyond union identity influence trade union positioning on the just transition, necessitating further exploration to unravel these elements.
Too little is known about how the perspectives of, and relationships between, unions and management may affect the management of psychosocial hazards at work. This is despite the potential impact of these hazards on workers and calls to better integrate industrial relations and work health and safety disciplines in order to respond more effectively. Drawing on the foundational industrial relations concept of frames of reference, and informed by research in industrial relations (IR) and work health and safety (WHS), we analyse the type and extent of cooperation between a manufacturing union and management in two Australian case organisations as they sought to develop a psychosocial risk management plan over two years during the COVID pandemic. We demonstrate the utility of a frames of reference typology for analysing and explaining their attempts at cooperation. We propose that frames of reference analysis can be used more actively, including by the parties themselves; more broadly, across different issues and sectors; and more strategically, as a way for parties to shape behaviour and relationships to improve outcomes for workers and organisations.
This article examines how geopolitical tensions reshape informal economic activities through supply chain restructuring. Drawing on 60 interviews with workers and systematic analysis of 47 policy documents across Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria, the research develops the concept of "geopolitical informality," informal economic adaptations triggered by interstate competition rather than domestic factors. Triangulating interview data with union estimates and corporate reports, the research indicates that approximately 38% to 52% of displaced workers transition to informal employment, creating a "formalization paradox" where states assert control over strategic sectors while tolerating informality for competitive flexibility. Document analysis exposes systematic "strategic silence" in policy frameworks that celebrate formal job creation while ignoring the informal foundations enabling supply chain restructuring. Workers demonstrate significant agency through cross-border networks, skill-sharing cooperatives, and hybrid formal-informal income strategies. The research challenges assumptions about formalization and development, revealing informality as a structural feature of contemporary geopolitical capitalism requiring new theoretical frameworks and policy approaches that protect worker welfare while navigating strategic competition.
Danish and Dutch employers’ associations (EAs) support the status quo on welfare policies. These status quo positions are related to welfare effort (spending) as well as to welfare orientation and welfare boundaries (the mix between universal, occupational and market provided welfare). In relation to welfare boundaries, policy control is a key EA preference. This preference should be seen in the context of the important roles EAs in both countries have as producers of, and not only stakeholders in, welfare, not least via CAs and most clearly seen in relation to pensions. However, EAs in the Netherlands show, in general, more preferences for cost-containment and market-based solutions, and less for universal welfare than the Danish EAs, and the Dutch EAs take corporatist institutions and collective bargaining less for granted than in earlier decades. In relation to explaining the pattern and development of EA's preferences, we found that a single mechanism could not explain these. EAs' own interests and path-dependency appear as important in both countries, whereas less support was found for actor power and political context-related explanations, although these factors were not without effect altogether.
This paper examines how the tension between supranational integration and far-right nationalism shapes everyday working lives, focusing on the transposition of the European Union Work-Life Balance (WLB) Directive. It addresses a critical gap in Industrial Relations scholarship by exploring the role of social dialogue in mediating this geopolitical fault line during transposition. Through a comparative study of Denmark, Hungary and Italy, the paper investigates how specific WLB provisions - such as leave entitlements and flexible working arrangements - were negotiated. It draws on in-depth interviews with social partner representatives, supplemented by civil society perspectives, which indicate that the strength or weakness of national social dialogue determined how the European Union's vision was received. The robustness of the social dialogue process either tempered nationalist populist discourse or, through its weakness, allowed that discourse to successfully subvert the intended policy outcomes. The analysis reveals a fragmented and uneven implementation of the Directive, with outcomes ranging from WLB provisions above minimum standards in Denmark to active policy subversion in Hungary and Italy. By demonstrating how the WLB Directive became a core area for ideological rivalry, this paper confirms the workplace as not a sphere of 'low politics' but an important site of geopolitical struggle.
This study examines micro-level data on 24.5 million workers across 15 European countries (2006-2018) to assess the role of trade unions (measured through collective bargaining coverage and trade union density) in moderating the effects of robot adoption on wages and employment. We analyse heterogeneity across gender, education and age. The findings indicate that robotisation is negatively associated with wage growth, but higher union density tends to mitigate this relationship. Robotisation is also linked to employment rate declines in countries with low values of both union proxies, whereas in countries with stronger collective bargaining institutions, this association is considerably weaker. Medium-educated workers appear to benefit most from greater union power. Results highlight the potentially important role of trade unions in moderating the adverse labour market effects of robotisation.
