In many parts of the world, homework is a form of labour characterised by precariousness, lack of regulation, and invisibility and lack of protection of the workers who are often amongst the world’s poorest and most exploited. Homework is spreading, due to firm practices such as outsourcing....

Until recently, organizing in the informal sector has mainly been conducted by grassroots organizations and it appeared that trade unions largely ignored the plight of informal workers. Successful organizing has, however, occurred in the informal sector through homeworker mapping. Homeworker...

Until recently, organizing in the informal sector has mainly been conducted by grassroots organizations and it appeared that trade unions largely ignored the plight of informal workers. Successful organizing has, however, occurred in the informal sector through homeworker mapping. Homeworker...

In this article we document and discuss homeworker ‘mapping’ as an emerging approach to organizing. Mapping was used by homeworker organizations to organize unprotected workers in the unregulated informal sector where there has been an exponential growth over the last two decades

This paper theorises the position of women footwear homeworkers through the lens of global production networks. Using data collected in India during 2011 to 2014, it illustrates the asymmetry of power between network actors, and attests to the poverty, invisibility and lack of acknowledgement...

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) propose that ‘non-state-based non-judicial grievance mechanisms' have an important role to play in remedying human rights violations linked to transnational business, in addition to state-based judicial and non-judicial...

This online supplement provides a detailed case study of the strategies pursued by a particulartrade union (Perbupas, which later changed its name to SBGTS) to claim the rights to freedom ofassociation and collective bargaining in a particular sports shoe factory (Factory C*) inIndonesia over a...

This case study describes how Indonesian garment and footwear workers, and allied organisations have used a combination of strategies to pursue their rights, which includes engaging with local and international non-judicial mechanisms. The case study analyses their efforts to influence the local...

This report examines the contribution of a non-judicial mechanism designed to encourage respect for freedom of association within Indonesia's export-oriented apparel and footwear sector. The Freedom of Association Protocol (the ‘Protocol') is a multi-party agreement created by Indonesian...

The chapter compares situationally different types of homework in the garment and footwear sectors in Australia and India. The two categories of informal homework exist in a highly gender segmented workforce that experiences regulation distance. The conceptual tool of invisibilization is used to...