The value of complaints mechanisms in private labour regulation of GVCs: A case study of the Fair Labor Association

Abstract

Can complaints mechanisms strengthen private labour regulation of GVCs? This article empirically investigates the results produced by the only complaints mechanism where outcomes can be verified from the complainant's perspective; the Fair Labour Association. It discovers that the vast majority of complainants find this complaints mechanism to be valuable. But the mechanism also has a number of significant limitations that seriously affect outcomes for workers. The study utilises the concept of ‘grounding’ to explore how the FLA complaints mechanism performs for workers in different contexts, unpacking it for the first time into three key dimensions; the national, the social and the corporate. The implications of these findings are then considered for complaints mechanisms in other GVCs.