Campaign strategies to develop regulatory mechanisms: Protecting Australian garment homeworkers

Abstract

Despite key universal characteristics of homework that render it complex and challenging to protect, Australia has a comprehensive suite of regulatory (legislative and non-legislative) mechanisms protecting garment homeworkers. This article proposes that it was the intense and sustained campaigning and mobilisation efforts of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia, undertaken together with the FairWear Campaign and Asian Women at Work, which enabled the emergence and development of these mechanisms. We examine these homework initiatives, applying the lens of responsive regulation theory, to derive implications for global homeworker organisations, shaping their regulatory environments. The article concludes that legislative outcomes alone are insufficient and a combined strategy that encompasses campaigning, legislative reform and social movement strategies that involve the participation of homeworkers are more likely to ensure effective and ongoing homeworker protection.