A digitised version of ICSF library, with more than 2000 original documents and 12,000+ curated links, collected over the last 33 years The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) is an international non-governmental organization that works towards the establishment of equitable, gender-just,self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector.
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Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect

Sparks, Jessica L. Decker and Matthews, Lee and Cardenas, Daniel and Williams, Chris (2022) Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect. Marine Policy, 139. pp. 1-14. ISSN 0308-597X

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Official URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...

Abstract

In response to labour and human rights violations onboard fishing vessels, the private sector is increasingly relying on market-based solutions in the form of voluntary, non-governmental social governance tools to improve working conditions for fishers. While the proliferation of these tools is relatively recent in fishing, there is substantial evidence from other sectors that these voluntary standards fail to transform working conditions. Yet, there remains an insistence on using market-based solutions to mitigate labour abuses in fishing despite the problem being a market failure. Using a human and labour-rights based analytical paradigm that underpins worker-centric processes, we constructed objective criteria to assess several voluntary standards against. Failing to include workers and commit to meaningful remedy, findings from the analysis suggests these voluntary non-governmental social governance tools are not able to ensure that human and labour rights are respected in a way that is consistent with state and international regulation or rigorous human rights due diligence. As a result, there is an urgent need for a transformational shift in the sector away from a worker-less reactive and adaptive corporate social responsibility strategy of doing less harm toward a fundamental commitment to redistributing power through a worker-driven social responsibility paradigm

Item Type: Articles
Keywords: Labour Rights, Fishing Vessels, Human Rights, Private Sector, Governance, Social Issues, Decent Work, Workers Rights, Code of Conduct, Working Conditions, Seafood Industry, Fishing Industry, Labour Standards
Subjects: Decent Work
Depositing User: Bharti Vijaya
Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2022 06:14
Last Modified: 30 Sep 2022 06:14
URI: http://icsfarchives.net/id/eprint/17352

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