Leveraging Nordic links: South African labour’s role in regulating labour standards in wine global production networks

Abstract

There are established difficulties in upholding private standards within global production networks (GPNs) through the use of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs). Taking the case of wine production in South Africa, the article examines labour’s role in leveraging new approaches to labour regulation in the interests of improved working standards and opportunities for labour organising. To do this, the paper adopts an extended take on the GPN framework which focuses on labour’s own networked capabilities. The role of worker agency in forging international connections and new relational geographies between unions and civil society organisations across wine GPNs (in particular between South Africa and Scandinavia) is explored. By applying pressure within and through these networks, workers are shown to encourage new approaches to private governance in the interests of improved worker rights on the ground.