CSR Participation Committees, Wildcat Strikes and the Sourcing Squeeze in Global Supply Chains

Key Insights for Managers

This paper examines the impact of pricing and lead-time pressure on suppliers and worker-management committees in apparel global supply chains in Vietnam. These committees consist of management representatives, elected worker representatives, and factory-level union leaders, and are required of all factories participating in the Better Work Vietnam program. They meet regularly to discuss non-compliance issues detected through the Better Work audit program. Author Mark Anner finds evidence that suppliers are being pressured to produce for lower prices and with shorter turn-around times. As a result, factory employees ended up working longer hours and for lower wages, and their participation committees became less effective in addressing issues around payments of minimum wage, social security, and overtime hours. This led to a rise in worker strikes, which have been successful at convincing factory managers to meet their demands for increases in wage, bonuses, and allowances, and better access to food.

The study was based on interviews with factory owners and auditors, factory visits, notes from observation of participation committee meetings, the author’s coding and analysis of Better Work factory assessment reports, the author’s survey of Better Work Enterprise Advisers covering 143 factories, and an analyses of US trade data.