Legal Regulation of Unacceptable Forms of Work: Global Dialogue/Local Innovation
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Law
Abstract
The Network on Legal Regulation of Unacceptable Forms of Work responds to the substantive and methodological limitations of the research on the regulation of precarious and low-quality jobs. The Network will support a rigorous, global, interdisciplinary and policy-oriented reflection on UFW. The aim is ultimately to generate crucial comparative insights into the challenges and potential of UFW regulation. The project will (1) establish an international and interdisciplinary Network of researchers and policy makers committed to an authentically global account of the regulation of UFW that fully incorporates the needs of developing countries, and (2) develop interlinked research agendas on key sites of regulatory intervention. The Strategic Network will nurture collaboration between researchers from multiple disciplines, developing countries and advanced industrialised countries, and policy-makers at all levels. The aim is to generate meaningful insights into the design and implementation of domestic and international laws. The Network will centre on Global Regulatory Challenges (GRCs) in UFW regulation, identified as among the most urgent and complex issues that face lower-income countries. Each Network Team will address labour market/regulatory phenomena in two paired countries across different income levels. The Teams will (1) map the existing 'state of the art' on the GRCs and (2) devise research strategies that can identify the most effective regulatory and policy strategies to address each, with a particular focus on developing countries.
Planned Impact
The UFW Network is an impact-oriented project. At the core of its objectives and activities is support for policy-actors to design regulatory interventions on unacceptable work, with a particular focus on developing countries.
Who will benefit and how?: An Impact strategy on UFW
The nine Network Teams (see Case for Support, Section 3) have been designed as an extended dialogue between researchers and global and local policy actors. Each Team will be composed of 5-7 members from paired countries, 2-3 of whom will be influential policy actors. These policy actors will be drawn from domestic and multilateral bodies and selected on the basis that they represent pivotal constituencies and/or exercise a substantial influence on regulatory policy, design, or implementation.
Network Teams will work towards co-production of research agendas. Each team will also design an Impact Pathway Strategy that will identify key policy actors and criteria for shaping Network activities in the target countries. Centrally, 'points of leverage' will be found, at which legal reforms are likely to be most feasible. These will be identified at the local level, allowing the Network Teams to respond effectively and swiftly to developments within local policy and regulatory frameworks (draft legislation, labour rights litigation, civil society campaigns etc.)
Through the impact and dissemination strategies, the Network will benefit the range of policy actors - national and transnational - that are engaged in the design, and implementation of labour regulation and pursuit of labour rights. As part of the Network-building activities of the Network (Activity 1, see Case for Support, Section 4), local partners will be identified by the Lead Researchers. Targeted beneficiaries already identified included:
International Labour Organization, Geneva
Greater Mekong Subregion TRIANGLE project (Tripartite Action to Protect Migrant Workers within and from the Greater Mekong Subregion from Labour Exploitation)
Forced Labour Monitoring Group (UK)
National Commission to Eradicate Forced Labour (Brazil)
United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Florence, Italy
ILO/International Finance Corporation, World Bank Better Work Project
Living Wage Foundation (UK)
In conjunction with the Impact Pathway Strategies, policy partners will be integrated through the following channels:
Policy actors and policy-influential scholars will be appointed to the Network's Global Advisory Board (Case for Support, Section 3). Tentatively, Board members will include representatives of the International Labour Organization, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), European Commission Directorate-General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), together with key UK partners.
One of the Co-Investigators - Lee - has a devoted impact role. As a key contact within the UN International Labour Organization, Lee will have a devoted role in securing global contacts (the World Bank, other UN Specialist agencies etc.) and at the national level through the ILO's network of 'constituents' (governments and employers' and workers' organizations) and broader contacts among NGOs and civil society).
A project-specific dissemination strategy will incorporate widespread circulation of the series of Project Reports on Innovative UFW Regulation, Executive Summaries, translated into French and Spanish, a series of UFW Policy Briefs (Case for Support, Section 4). These materials will be disseminated via a devoted Network website, a UFW app, a devoted Twitter feed, and in PDF and hard copies as needed and press releases will be targeted at leading media outlets.
Who will benefit and how?: An Impact strategy on UFW
The nine Network Teams (see Case for Support, Section 3) have been designed as an extended dialogue between researchers and global and local policy actors. Each Team will be composed of 5-7 members from paired countries, 2-3 of whom will be influential policy actors. These policy actors will be drawn from domestic and multilateral bodies and selected on the basis that they represent pivotal constituencies and/or exercise a substantial influence on regulatory policy, design, or implementation.
Network Teams will work towards co-production of research agendas. Each team will also design an Impact Pathway Strategy that will identify key policy actors and criteria for shaping Network activities in the target countries. Centrally, 'points of leverage' will be found, at which legal reforms are likely to be most feasible. These will be identified at the local level, allowing the Network Teams to respond effectively and swiftly to developments within local policy and regulatory frameworks (draft legislation, labour rights litigation, civil society campaigns etc.)
Through the impact and dissemination strategies, the Network will benefit the range of policy actors - national and transnational - that are engaged in the design, and implementation of labour regulation and pursuit of labour rights. As part of the Network-building activities of the Network (Activity 1, see Case for Support, Section 4), local partners will be identified by the Lead Researchers. Targeted beneficiaries already identified included:
International Labour Organization, Geneva
Greater Mekong Subregion TRIANGLE project (Tripartite Action to Protect Migrant Workers within and from the Greater Mekong Subregion from Labour Exploitation)
Forced Labour Monitoring Group (UK)
National Commission to Eradicate Forced Labour (Brazil)
United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Florence, Italy
ILO/International Finance Corporation, World Bank Better Work Project
Living Wage Foundation (UK)
In conjunction with the Impact Pathway Strategies, policy partners will be integrated through the following channels:
Policy actors and policy-influential scholars will be appointed to the Network's Global Advisory Board (Case for Support, Section 3). Tentatively, Board members will include representatives of the International Labour Organization, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), European Commission Directorate-General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), together with key UK partners.
One of the Co-Investigators - Lee - has a devoted impact role. As a key contact within the UN International Labour Organization, Lee will have a devoted role in securing global contacts (the World Bank, other UN Specialist agencies etc.) and at the national level through the ILO's network of 'constituents' (governments and employers' and workers' organizations) and broader contacts among NGOs and civil society).
A project-specific dissemination strategy will incorporate widespread circulation of the series of Project Reports on Innovative UFW Regulation, Executive Summaries, translated into French and Spanish, a series of UFW Policy Briefs (Case for Support, Section 4). These materials will be disseminated via a devoted Network website, a UFW app, a devoted Twitter feed, and in PDF and hard copies as needed and press releases will be targeted at leading media outlets.
Organisations
- Durham University (Lead Research Organisation)
- Dreamscope TV (Collaboration)
- South Africa Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Collaboration)
- SINACTRAHO - National Union of Domestic Workers (Collaboration)
- Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (Collaboration)
- York University Toronto (Collaboration)
- NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LESOTHO (Collaboration)
- Ambedkar University Delhi (Collaboration)
- IndustriALL Global Union (Collaboration)
- Mr Price Group Limited (Collaboration)
- National Domestic Workers Alliance, USA (Collaboration)
- African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (Collaboration)
- Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (Collaboration)
- International Labour Organization (ILO) (Collaboration)
- Social Capital (Collaboration)
- Government of Lesotho (Collaboration)
- UNDP Accelerator Lab, Mexico (Collaboration)
- University of Cape Town (Collaboration)
- Gatsby Charitable Foundation (Collaboration)
- Re Mmoho Compliance Solutions (Collaboration)
- Support and Training Center for Domestic Workers (Collaboration)
Publications
McCann D
(2019)
A Strategic Approach to Regulating Unacceptable Forms of Work
in Journal of Law and Society
| Title | Rethabile's Story |
| Description | In the garment factories of Maseru, Lesotho, workers are making clothes to be sold in the United States. What is day-to-day life like in the factories? Rethabile's Story is a documentary on day-to-day life in the Lesotho garment industry. It is narrated by Rethabile Ratsui - an ex-garment sector worker - and explores the life of her friends who work in the garment factories of Maseru. The full version of the film is available on the project's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqTHTZBu64s). A short (8 minute) version is available both on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvsAuc6WyPE) and Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/344574926). |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | On 8th July 2019, the project's short film on working life in the Lesotho garment sector - Rethabile's Story - was launched at the United Nations International Labour Organization in Geneva during the 6th Regulating for Decent Work (RDW) Conference on 8 July 2019. The director and producer, Darren Hutchinson, presented the film and took audience questions. The film was simultaneously launched on the DWR Project's YouTube channel and promoted on Twitter. |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/rethabilesstory/ |
| Title | Videos/animation |
| Description | A series of short videos and animation have been produced in collaboration with Dreamscope Productions to convey the Network-building process, overall objectives of the Network, and individual Research Agendas to a broad audience of users. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | Impacts are at an early stage and expected to evolve with dissemination activities. |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/media/ |
| Title | Voices from Southern Africa |
| Description | A series of short films that document the views of key stakeholders on Decent Work Regulation in Africa. Participants were drawn from across the region and include Mamohale Matsoso, Labour Commissioner of Lesotho; Limpho Mandoro, ILO Pretoria; and Tendai Makanza, IndustriALL Global Union. The videos outline crucial challenges in ensuring labour rights in the garment sector across sub-Saharan Africa and offer their personal perspectives on future action. The videos are available at https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/voices/. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | As part of the broader Decent Work Regulation in Africa project, the videos are shaping legal policy across the sub-Saharan region, including in Lesotho, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/voices/ |
| Description | 1. WHAT WERE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE AWARD? Designing effective regulatory frameworks that can upgrade Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW) is an urgent global challenge. UFW have been defined by the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) as jobs that "deny fundamental principles and rights at work, put at risk the lives, health, freedom, human dignity and security of workers or keep households in conditions of extreme poverty." The elimination of UFW is therefore central to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 8: to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all. The ESRC/GCRF Strategic Network on Legal Regulation of Unacceptable Forms of Work is animated by a conviction that policy-makers and researchers from across the world must come together to share ideas, experiments, and successful strategies to address UFW. To this end, the Strategic Network was formed to support a global dialogue on UFW. Core achievements are that the Network has brought together more than 50 research and policy bodies from 20 countries in all regions and has supported a global interdisciplinary and policy-oriented reflection on UFW. The Network has also begun to respond to the substantive and methodological limitations of the research on the regulation of UFW, through a set of Research Agendas that outline inter-regional comparative Case Studies on effective labour regulation. The longer-term objective - integrated into the work of the Network - is to support meaningful reform in the design and implementation of domestic and international laws. 2. TO WHAT EXTENT WERE THE AWARD OBJECTIVES MET? The key objectives of the award were: 1. To establish an international and interdisciplinary Network of researchers and policy-makers committed to an authentically global account of the regulation of UFW that fully incorporates the needs of developing countries; and 2. To develop interlinked research agendas on key sites of regulatory intervention. 2.1. Network building The Network has initiated and supported collaboration between researchers from multiple disciplines including law, economics, development studies, human resources, geography, sociology and industrial relations, and from institutions that include Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), Cambridge University, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), Sao Paulo, Institute for Economic and Social Development, Buenos Aires, Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA), Hanoi, MIT, University of Manchester, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, University of the Witswatersrand and York University (Toronto). The Network reaches into both Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) and advanced industrialised countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cambodia, India, Jordan, Korea, Lesotho, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, UK and Viet Nam. Domestic and transnational policy partners are at the heart of the UFW Network. The Network has more than 50 policy partners. Global partners are the ILO, Geneva, the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WEIGO). National partners encompass government Ministries, multi-national corporations, NGOs, trade unions and workers' rights advocacy organisations. These include the Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa, Asia Inspection/SEDEX, the Brazilian Labour Inspectorate, Better Factories Cambodia/Better Work (ILO/World Bank), the Cambodian Ministry of Labour, the Casual Workers Advice Office, South Africa, the Ethical Trading Initiative, the ILO Country Offices for Argentina, Brazil and Viet Nam, the ILO Pretoria Office, Labour Education and Research Network (LEARN), Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers Union, the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA), Viet Nam, and the South African Department of Labour. To build the Network and plan Research Agendas (see below), Global Dialogues were held in Durham Law School and at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok during summer 2017. The Dialogues brought together researchers and policy-actors from all regions (Durham - UK, North America, Latin America, Africa; Bangkok - Asia, Australia). A Workshop on Global Challenges to Effective Labour Rights was also held in Durham in December 2017, to reflect upon the achievements of the Network and to map future activities and impact. 2.2. Research Agendas on Innovative UFW Regulation The Network has generated a set of Research Agendas on Innovative UFW Regulation. These Agendas outline interlinked research and impact strategies to investigate and respond to Global Regulatory Challenges: the most urgent and complex issues that face lower-income countries in eliminating or upgrading unacceptable work. Each of the Research Agendas has been designed by Network Teams from two or more countries that include 2-3 policy actors (global/local), researchers from a range of disciplines, and members who are based in both LMICs and advanced industrialised countries. The Teams also support capacity-building through the involvement of Early Career Researchers. The Research Agendas (1) map the existing 'state of the art' on the Global Regulatory Challenges and (2) outline research strategies that can identify the most effective regulatory and policy strategies to address each Challenge. They investigate regulatory frameworks at a range of levels (global, national, sectoral, firm-level) and examine diverse regulatory mechanisms (legislation, collective bargaining, Corporate Social Responsibility regimes etc.) The Research Agendas also centre on sectors and occupations that are at the heart of the global economy, including the garment sector, construction, domestic work, and agriculture. The Research Agendas are devoted to the following Global Regulatory Challenges: • Casual Work • Recruitment in Global Value Chains • Extending Forced Labour Initiatives • Innovative Collective Representation • Enforcing Labour Laws • Labour Rights in 'The Precarious Economy' • Law's Dynamic Effects • Violence and Harassment in the Care Economy • Informal Work and Labour Regulation To investigate each Global Regulatory Challenge, a cross-regional comparative approach has been adopted. Each Research Agenda proposes an illustrative comparison of labour market/regulatory phenomena in two or more countries drawn from different regions and income-levels. The aim is to generate a dialogue that transcends national boundaries and to circulate regulatory ideas and innovations across the world. Innovative interdisciplinary research methodologies have been designed that are specifically tailored to each Challenge (see further Research Tools and Methods). These methodologies are diverse, build on the strengths of the Network Teams, cross disciplinary boundaries, and embrace a range of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Each Research Agenda proposes a set of impact strategies that are tailored towards regulatory reform (see Narrative Impact). A Synthesis Report has also been produced that reviews the Network process, findings and Research Agendas. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings are being taken forward through a series of linked grant applications, publications and other activities that have been designed to build strategically on the award: 1. RCUK/GCRF applications. An application to the ESRC New Models of Sustainable Development call (Decent Work for All) (£799,600) is under consideration. This proposal is to fund a set of four studies on Decent Work Regulation that build on the Strategic Network Research Agendas: (1) three Case Studies on countries in the global South, which investigate contrasting regulatory mechanisms for improving informal work (Argentina, Cambodia, South Africa) and (2) a cross-cutting global study that advances the measurement of informality and investigates the impact of labour regulation on informal work. The focus is on attempts to introduce legal regulation into arenas previously unregulated by formal norms and to generate lessons on innovative legal techniques. 2. Durham University HEFCE GCRF funding. Durham University has recognised the significance of the UFW project by awarding the Principal Investigator funds to further develop the Strategic Network (£90,000; March-July 2018). These HEFCE funds were allocated to GCRF projects through a University-wide competitive application process. The funding is directed towards: (1) Extending and strengthening the Network's links in sub-Saharan Africa, including with the project's Regional Hub, the University of Cape Town. To this end, a Regional Meeting will take place in South Africa in June 2018. Participants will be drawn primarily from researchers and policy-makers in the region, with a focus on countries that are designated as Least-Developed on the OECD DAC-list. (2) Conducting a pilot study on Enforcing Labour Laws through field work in South Africa and Lesotho. The focus is 'hybrid' enforcement models that integrate non-state actors - NGOs, 'buyer' firms, international organizations etc. - into state-led enforcement strategies. A particular focus is the ILO/World Bank Better Work programme. 3. ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funding (February-May 2018). The Principal Investigator has been awarded Durham ESRC IAA funding to magnify the impact of the Strategic Network (£9,070). The impact activities include liaising with Network members to influence local policy and legal processes, extending the Network into new countries, designing targeted Research/Policy Briefs to circulate to policy makers, and proactively monitoring activities of international and domestic labour institutions to identify possibilities for intervention. 4. Other activities. The Network is currently exploring opportunities to produce academic outputs. Outputs are likely to be in the form of either a Special Issue of a top-tier Law journal or an edited volume from a leading academic publisher. Individual Network Teams are also exploring further funding opportunities to advance the Research Agendas, from the UK and overseas. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Construction,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Retail,Transport |
| URL | http://unacceptablework.com |
| Description | The concept of UFW operationalised through the work of the Network has already had an immediate impact during the life of the award. This impact has been achieved through collaboration with the Network's key global partner, the International Labour Organization. Dr Sangheon Lee, Director of the Employment Policy Department is a Co-Investigator on the Award. Network partners also include Manuela Tomei (Director of the Conditions of Work and Equality Department) and Professor Damian Grimshaw (Director, Research Department). Through these channels, the UFW concept is influencing the policy activities of the Organization. In particular, it has informed the ILO's platform for achieving the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - see http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/dw4sd/lang--en/index.htm. Towards future impact, each of the Network Research Agendas includes a Pathway to Impact Strategy that was designed in collaboration with local policy actors and is tailored to the legal, institutional, socio-economic and developmental settings of the Research Agenda countries. These Strategies incorporate legislative reform, enforcement strategies, social dialogue, collective bargaining, Corporate Social Responsibility, and worker organizing and awareness-raising. They have been designed to reach a large number of beneficiaries (e.g. 40,000 day labourers in South Africa - Research Agenda on Casual Work). During 2018, the Network engaged in substantial follow-up activities designed to extend the research and impact of Grant ES/POO7465/1. This work centred on Southern Africa and had a particular focus on the garment sector. The activities operationalised the Network's Research Agenda on Enforcing Labour Laws and involved a team of researchers and policy-makers assembled through the Network. Competitive funding was secured from the University of Durham from HEFCE GCRF funds to support a Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (Cape Town, 18th June 2018) and research in Lesotho and South Africa on Enforcing Labour Laws in Southern Africa. This project has achieved substantial impacts on labour policy and practice in Southern Africa. New ideas and policy themes drawn from the work of the Network have influenced the policy debates on effective labour rights and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The project has also allowed African policy-makers to conduct a regional-level dialogue, including countries with limited opportunities to exchange their ideas and experience (Ethiopia, Kenya, Swaziland). The work has had a particular impact in Lesotho, where it is introducing new policy themes of gender discrimination and harassment, work-family, and informality and produced a Decent Work Training Programme Framework agreed by project stakeholders. On Decent Work Regulation in Africa, see further https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/. The Network's ESRC IAA funding (see Key Findings) was also directed towards enhancing and extending the impact of the Network, through further Network building, awareness-raising and policy engagement activities. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018-): Influence on Policy and Practice |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018-): Influence on Policy and Practice During 2018, we carried out extensive follow-up activities in Southern Africa to build on and extend the activities of the ESRC GCRF Strategic Network grant in Southern Africa. The region had been identified by the Strategic Network as a crucial site for impact activities towards the elimination of UFW. Our work in South Africa over this period has built upon the Strategic Network's Agenda on Enforcing Labour Laws and has involved a team of researchers and policy-makers assembled through the Strategic Network. Competitive funding was secured from the University of Durham through HEFCE GCRF funds to support a research/impact project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa with a particular focus on the garment sector. This work has achieved substantial impacts on labour policy and practice in Southern Africa and internationally. These activities are influencing the policy debates on labour regulation and decent work in the Region by introducing new policy themes, elevating the policy dialogues on effective regulation in the garment sector to the regional level, and amplifying the voice and experience of actors from Southern Africa in the international debates. 1. Influence on the Activities of our Policy Partners Our policy partners testify to a significant influence of the project's research agendas, dialogues, and recommendations on labour policy and practice in the region and at the international level. Ideas generated by the project have been integrated into policy thinking and practice among a range of policy actors who are central to delivering decent work in Africa. The Decent Work Regulation project has generated important new ideas and policy themes that our partners use in their work. Our partners both benefit from the research and engagement activities of the project and are co-producers of knowledge. Our work has advanced policy-makers understanding of the effective enforcement of labour rights in lower-income countries, the role of labour inspectorates, how better to co-ordinate public and private standards, and options for reform of regulatory systems. The project is also supporting an increased emphasis on the treatment of female workers, work-family reconciliation, and informality. The Findings and Recommendations agreed by our partners at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (Cape Town, 18 June 2018) have been particularly helpful (available at https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/law/UFW/RDW-AfricaRM18June2018FindingsandConclusions.pdf). As an illustration, the global garment sector union IndustriALL has drawn on the project research agendas and findings in subsequent activities at the regional level. In December 2018, IndustriALL hosted an Regional conference to commemorate Africa Industrialisation Day that involved delegates from civil society, the ILO, and local universities. A session was devoted to current challenges in the garment and textile sector and involved affiliate unions from Lesotho, Swaziland, Ethiopia and Madagascar. Key findings were shared from the Decent Work Africa project. 2. Supporting Regional-level Dialogue The project has has allowed African policy-makers to conduct a policy dialogue on effective regulation in the garment sector at the regional level. The Regional Meeting in Cape Town in June 2018 supported discussions among stakeholders about their experiences and ideas from reform, generating an agreed policy document of Findings and Recommendations on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (see above). The Meeting included participants - including from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Swaziland - who previously had few opportunities to take part in the regional-level dialogue. The Secretary General of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland, for example, has testified that the Meeting 'allowed me a rare opportunity to discuss our challenges in Swaziland with stakeholders from other countries and to benefit from their experience.' He also had the opportunity to meet buyers who source garments from Swaziland, allowing him to open communication lines that are helpful in the Union's ongoing dialogue with employers in the country. 3. African Voices in the International Debates The Decent Work Regulation project has allowed the voice and experience of Southern African stakeholders to contribute to the international debates on decent work and labour rights. The experience of African countries has previously often been overlooked in the international dialogue on decent work in the garment sector and the regulation of global supply chains. In December 2017, for example, the Labour Commissioner of Lesotho, Mamahole Matsoso, attended the Strategic Network Workshop on Global Challenges to Effective Labour Rights at the University of Durham. She discussed the project research agenda on Enforcing Labour Laws and shared her experience of enforcing labour rights in Lesotho with global researchers and policy-makers, including from the ILO, Brazil and the US. The Labour Commissioner built on this experience in sharing her observations with participants at our Regional Meeting in Cape Town in June 2018. 3. New Policy Themes and Capacity Building in Lesotho The Decent Work Regulation-Africa project has had a particular impact in Lesotho. In this country, the garment sector is a growing sector of the economy and crucial to the country's development strategy. Yet it is also the home of very poor working conditions. The project is introducing into the Lesotho policy debates new themes of gender discrimination and harassment, work-family, and informality. These themes have been picked up by stakeholders, including, with particular strength, the Lesotho trade unions. During 2018, the main Lesotho trade unions convened in two workshops to consider effective regulation in Lesotho. Deciding that capacity-building is a crucial conduit to ensuring an effective role for unions in strengthening labour laws and achieving SDG8 the unions decided that training is crucial. They developed a DWR-Africa framework for a Decent Work Training Programme with the help of our research partners at the University of Cape Town and National University of Lesotho. Letters of Support are available that provide testimonials of all of these impacts. |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/ |
| Description | Global impact: The ILO and UN Sustainable Development Goals |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in systematic reviews |
| Impact | The UFW Project has made a core contribution to legal policy of the United Nations (UN). In 2013 the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) - the UN Specialist Agency responsible for international law and policy on working life - identified as an Area of Critical Importance the elimination of Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW) ("in conditions that deny fundamental principles and rights, put at risk the lives, health, freedom, human dignity and security of workers or keep households in conditions of extreme poverty.") (ILO Towards the ILO Centenary (2013), The Director-General's Programme and Budget Proposals for 2014-15 (2013). Recognising that there was no comprehensive understanding of UFW or how to address it, the ILO asked McCann for guidance. She co-authored a policy report (Fudge and McCann, Unacceptable Forms of Work (ILO 2015), was advisor to the two units that lead the ILO's efforts on eliminating UFW - the Conditions of Work and Equality Department (e.g. submission to the ILO Governing Body (executive) discussion of UFW ) (ILO Area of Critical Importance: Protecting Workers from Unacceptable Forms of Work (2015) and Employment Policy Department - and briefed the ILO Director-General (July 2017). Through these channels research, has been incorporated into four flagship ILO policy agendas on the SDGs, the Universal Labour Guarantee, precarious work, and national employment policy. Its particular influence is in outlining (1) the dimensions of UFW; (2) a strategy for local actors to determine intervention priorities; and (3) a strategic regulation approach. As confirmed by Dr Sangheon Lee, Director of the ILO's Employment Policy Department, the ILO has "benefitted greatly" from the research. This research is central to the ILO's work as the lead UN agency responsible for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: it has been incorporated through the inclusion of UFW in the ILO's platform for achieving the SDGs ILO Decent Work and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The research has also had a crucial influence on ILO interventions on UFW in Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, India, Malawi, Morocco, Pakistan, Pacific Island countries, southern Africa, Thailand and Uzbekistan, as attested by Manuela Tomei, Director of the Conditions of Work and Equality Department, the unit that leads this area of the Organization's work; employment policy in China, Indonesia, Mozambique, the Philippines, South Africa, and Uganda and discussions with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and OECD. |
| Description | Global impact: Universal Labour Guarantee |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | McCann and Fudge's model of Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW) has "evolved into" the notion of a Universal Labour Guarantee proposed by the Global Commission on the Future of Work (2019), a landmark commission chaired by the premiers of South Africa and Sweden (ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work for a Brighter Future (2019). Drawing on McCann and Fudge's research, the Guarantee would provide a set of minimum protections to workers across the world that include an adequate living wage, limits on hours of work, and safe and healthy workplaces. Testimonial available - Dr Sangheon Lee, Executive Director, Employment Policy Department, UN International Labour Organisation |
| URL | https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_662410/lang--en/index.htm |
| Description | ILO Agenda on Unacceptable Forms of Work/Sustainable Development Goals |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The foundational research for the Strategic Network and subsequent Global Dialogues have influenced the development of the ILO's policy agenda on Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW). This influence has been exercised directly through research publications and indirectly through in-person discussion with key ILO officials. The approach of the Network towards the innovative regulation of UFW is exercising a continuing influence no the ILO's policy agenda on UFW, including as it shapes the efforts of the Organization to contribute to the 2030 Agenda and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). |
| Description | ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | My research has significantly influenced the UN International Labour Organization Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work. This is a core international instrument on labour rights that is shaping the global policy agenda on the world of work. The Declaration is the framework for the current work-programme of the ILO at the global level and across its 187 member States. The Programme has the explicit goal of implementing the Declaration (Strategic Plan for 2022-25 (ILO Governing Body, November 2020); Programme and Budget Proposals for 2022-23 (ILO Director-General, March 2021)). The Centenary Declaration is at the heart of the ILO's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Declaration is the foundation of the ILO Global Call to Action for a Human-Centred Recovery (June 2021). The Call is influencing labour law and policy across the world: it commits the ILO's 187 member States to recovering from COVID-19 by implementing the Declaration. The Declaration has generated an ILO proposal to include health and safety among the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (ILO Governing Body, 8 February 2021). The Fundamental Rights are the globally-accepted 'floor of rights' for all workers across the world (freedom of association and protection from discrimination, forced labour and child labour). The proposal to extend the Fundamental Rights to include health and safety is groundbreaking and would change the direction of labour and human rights across the work of UN agencies, human rights institutions, the EU, and across the fields of labour, human rights, and development. This proposal is directly influenced by my scholarship, which argues that universal protections should include conditions of work. |
| Description | Influence on UN policy guidance |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The influence is on labour policy across the Arab States. My work contributed to a UN framework for understanding and responding to forced labour, including through legal regulation. It is ODA-relevant by influencing policy-frameworks across DAC list countries in the Arab States towards economic development and welfare. |
| URL | https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---sro-new_delhi/documents/publicatio... |
| Description | National Impact: Brexit in Wales |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The research has shaped the Welsh Government's Brexit policy. The Government's position paper on Brexit and Fair Movement of People draws on McCann's model to underpin the employment dimension of Welsh migration policy. It is used to develop the concept of a spectrum of exploitation in contemporary labour markets and the Government's response: forceful enforcement of labour legislation and the extension of collective bargaining and trade union access, which was further developed by the Welsh Fair Work Commission (https://gov.wales/fair-work-wales). |
| Description | National Impact: Policy and practice of Victorian Trades Hall Council [trade union confederation] (Australia) |
| Geographic Reach | Australia |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | McCann and Fudge's conception of UFW as a framework for conceptualising insecure work has been adopted by the Australian trade union movement, particularly influencing the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) (a peak-level TU confederation), centrally through the efforts of Lisa Heap, Women's Lead Organiser of the VTHC and a member of the UFW Strategic Network. The VTHC has adopted the model in its policies on precarious work and gender discrimination (e.g. as reflected in submissions to the Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work, which supported legislative reform) and the Senate Standing Committee of the Australian Parliament investigation of Gender Segregation in the Workplace and its Impact on Women's Economic Equality. |
| URL | https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/victorianunions/pages/1686/attachments/original/1454880569/Lab... |
| Description | National Impact: Victorian Government's Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work (Australia) |
| Geographic Reach | Australia |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The research has impacted labour law and policy in Australia. The Victorian Government's Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work used McCann and Fudge's conception of UFW as a framework for conceptualising insecure work (Victorian Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work Final Report 31 August 2016 (State of Victoria 2016), pp. 264, 266-267). The regulatory approach from the research subsequently underpinned legislative change that drew on the specific regulation approach: in response to the Inquiry, the Victorian Government legislated a licencing scheme for labour hire services that picks up on the research's support for specific regulation to protect particularly vulnerable categories of workers (Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018, Victoria, Australia). |
| URL | https://economicdevelopment.vic.gov.au/inquiry-into-the-labour-hire-industry/final-report |
| Description | Durham GCRF Network Grant |
| Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Department | Global Challenges Research Fund |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2019 |
| End | 02/2021 |
| Description | Durham University ESRC Impact Acceleration Account |
| Amount | £14,130 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2019 |
| End | 09/2019 |
| Description | Durham University ESRC Impact Acceleration Account |
| Amount | £9,070 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2018 |
| End | 05/2018 |
| Description | Durham University GCRF Centre for Doctoral Training studentship: Law's Dynamic Effects in South Africa |
| Amount | £96,531 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2019 |
| End | 02/2022 |
| Description | Durham University HEFCE GCRF funding |
| Amount | £90,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 07/2018 |
| Description | GCRF Meeting/Workshop Funds |
| Amount | £3,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 07/2020 |
| Description | QR Strategic Priorities Fund |
| Amount | £3,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | ACTIF |
| Organisation | African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | ACTIF is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland |
| Organisation | Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland |
| Country | Swaziland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above. |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Centro de Apoyo y Capacitación para Empleadas del Hogar (CACEH), Mexico |
| Organisation | Support and Training Center for Domestic Workers |
| Country | Mexico |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Centro de Apoyo y Capacitación para Empleadas del Hogar (CACEH) is a member of the UFW Strategic Network and of a new spin-off network - the Network on Labour/Data Justice in the Global South, initiated in January 2020. This is a new stage of the Project which collaborates with partners from the UFW Network and others to investigate the design and implementation of regulatory frameworks that respond to the digital transformation of working life. For this purpose, it is establishing a network of local and international researchers and stakeholders who are working towards achieving labour/data justice through law-centred activities. The first phase of the Project explores law-centred initiatives to secure decent work for domestic workers in Mexico. The focus is on the rapid digitisation of the sector and the challenges it poses for labour/data justice in light of recent initiatives to improve the legal status of domestic workers. Our aim is to generate findings and recommendations that can contribute to policy and legal reform in Mexico, as well as to international initiatives. The project is funded by Durham University GCRF QR Funding, Durham University Strategic Priorities Fund and a University of Exeter GCRF Small Grant. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This partnership involves being kept up-to-date on our activities, providing comments on the overall direction of the project, and anticipated involvement in a further grant application. |
| Impact | The Project is in first steps and has not produced any outputs yet. A Research/Impact Agenda is expected to be launched in the first half of 2020. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Dreamscope TV |
| Organisation | Dreamscope TV |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The research team collaborates with Dreamscope TV to produce media (videos, animations, documentaries) on our work. These are aimed at a general audience and intended to provide an accessible account of our research and to convey to a broad global audience the significance of effective labour rights towards the Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dreamscope was a key partner in the 2018 project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa. This project was a collaboration with the University of Cape Town, York University Toronto, and the National University of Lesotho. |
| Impact | 1. Project on Unacceptable Forms of Work - set of 9 videos and animation (2017) 2. Voices from Southern Africa (video series) (2018) 3. Rethabile's Story (documentary) (2019). |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | ETIDI |
| Organisation | Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute |
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | ETIDI is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | see above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Gatsby Africa |
| Organisation | Gatsby Charitable Foundation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Gatsby Africa is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | see above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | ILO Office in Brazil |
| Organisation | International Labour Organization (ILO) |
| Department | International Labour Organization - Brazil Office |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The International Labour Organization (ILO) Office in Brazil is a member of the UFW Strategic Network and of a new spin-off network - the Network on Labour/Data Justice in the Global South, initiated in January 2020. This is a new stage of the Project which collaborates with partners from the UFW Network and others to investigate the design and implementation of regulatory frameworks that respond to the digital transformation of working life. For this purpose, it is establishing a network of local and international researchers and stakeholders who are working towards achieving labour/data justice through law-centred activities. The first phase of the Project explores law-centred initiatives to secure decent work for domestic workers in Mexico. The focus is on the rapid digitisation of the sector and the challenges it poses for labour/data justice in light of recent initiatives to improve the legal status of domestic workers. Our aim is to generate findings and recommendations that can contribute to policy and legal reform in Mexico, as well as to international initiatives. The project is funded by Durham University GCRF QR Funding, Durham University Strategic Priorities Fund and a University of Exeter GCRF Small Grant. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This partnership involves being kept up-to-date on our activities, providing comments on the overall direction of the project, and anticipated involvement in a further grant application. |
| Impact | The Project is in first steps and has not produced any outputs yet. A Research/Impact Agenda is expected to be launched in the first half of 2020. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | ILO Pretoria |
| Organisation | International Labour Organization (ILO) |
| Department | International Labour Organization - Pretoria Office |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | ILO Pretoria is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above. |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | IndustriALL Global Union |
| Organisation | IndustriALL Global Union |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | IndustriALL is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | MTI Lesotho |
| Organisation | Government of Lesotho |
| Department | Ministry of Trade and Industry, Lesotho |
| Country | Lesotho |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Ministry is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Mr Price Group |
| Organisation | Mr Price Group Limited |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Mr Price Group is a member of the Strategic Network and took part in the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa - see relevant section. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | National Domestic Worker's Alliance, USA |
| Organisation | National Domestic Workers Alliance, USA |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The National Domestic Worker's Alliance (USA) is a member of the UFW Strategic Network and of a new spin-off network - the Network on Labour/Data Justice in the Global South, initiated in January 2020. This is a new stage of the Project which collaborates with partners from the UFW Network and others to investigate the design and implementation of regulatory frameworks that respond to the digital transformation of working life. For this purpose, it is establishing a network of local and international researchers and stakeholders who are working towards achieving labour/data justice through law-centred activities. The first phase of the Project explores law-centred initiatives to secure decent work for domestic workers in Mexico. The focus is on the rapid digitisation of the sector and the challenges it poses for labour/data justice in light of recent initiatives to improve the legal status of domestic workers. Our aim is to generate findings and recommendations that can contribute to policy and legal reform in Mexico, as well as to international initiatives. The project is funded by Durham University GCRF QR Funding, Durham University Strategic Priorities Fund and a University of Exeter GCRF Small Grant. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This partnership involves being kept up-to-date on our activities, providing comments on the overall direction of the project, and anticipated involvement in a further grant application. |
| Impact | The Project is in first steps and has not produced any outputs yet. A Research/Impact Agenda is expected to be launched in the first half of 2020. The project is a muldisciplinary collaboration between the fields of law and geography. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | National University of Lesotho |
| Organisation | National University of Lesotho |
| Country | Lesotho |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration on research and policy activities related to effective labour regulation in Lesotho with a particular focus on the garment sector. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration between Durham University, NUL, University of Cape Town, and York University Canada. |
| Impact | Lesotho Trade Unions Workshop, September 2018 National-level Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Lesotho, December 2018 Framework for Decent Work Training |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | ReMmoho |
| Organisation | Re Mmoho Compliance Solutions |
| Country | Lesotho |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | ReMmoho is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | SACTWU |
| Organisation | South Africa Clothing and Textile Workers' Union |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | SACTWU is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above. |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa (2018). |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras del Hogar (SINACTRAHO), Mexico |
| Organisation | SINACTRAHO - National Union of Domestic Workers |
| Country | Mexico |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras del Hogar (SINACTRAHO) is a member of the UFW Strategic Network and of a new spin-off network - the Network on Labour/Data Justice in the Global South, initiated in January 2020. This is a new stage of the Project which collaborates with partners from the UFW Network and others to investigate the design and implementation of regulatory frameworks that respond to the digital transformation of working life. For this purpose, it is establishing a network of local and international researchers and stakeholders who are working towards achieving labour/data justice through law-centred activities. The first phase of the Project explores law-centred initiatives to secure decent work for domestic workers in Mexico. The focus is on the rapid digitisation of the sector and the challenges it poses for labour/data justice in light of recent initiatives to improve the legal status of domestic workers. Our aim is to generate findings and recommendations that can contribute to policy and legal reform in Mexico, as well as to international initiatives. The project is funded by Durham University GCRF QR Funding, Durham University Strategic Priorities Fund and a University of Exeter GCRF Small Grant. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This partnership involves being kept up-to-date on our activities, providing comments on the overall direction of the project, and anticipated involvement in a further grant application. |
| Impact | The Project is in first steps and has not produced any outputs yet. A Research/Impact Agenda is expected to be launched in the first half of 2020. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Social Capital Consulting, Durban, South Africa |
| Organisation | Social Capital |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Social Capital Consulting is a member of the Strategic Network and a participant at the Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation-Africa (Cape Town, June 2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | see above |
| Impact | Findings and Recommendations on DWR-Africa (2018) |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Strategic Network on UFW Membership |
| Organisation | Ambedkar University Delhi |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Membership of the Strategic Network on Legal Regulation of UFW is drawn from the academic and policy institutions listed below together with our partners in sub-Saharan Africa (see separate entries). The Network encompasses more than 90 institutions in 25 countries with a global reach of 1.5 million individuals. Network Members (1) have contributed to the Research Agendas on Innovative UFW Regulation (see Key Findings) or (2) are members of the project Global Advisory Board. ACADEMIC PARTNERS Ambedkar University, Delhi, India Cambridge University, UK Cardiff University, UK Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, Perumbavoor, Kerala, India Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil Harvard University, USA Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa Research Centre for Employment Relations, Hanoi, Viet Nam RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Roskilde University, Denmark Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea University of California, Davis, USA University of Cape Town, South Africa University of Illinois at Chicago, USA University of Kent, UK University of Leicester, UK University of Manchester, UK University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand York University, Toronto, Canada INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS EU European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions UN ILO, Geneva United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) NATIONAL PARTNERS Argentina ILO Field Office in Argentina Australia Victorian Trades Hall Council, Melbourne UNISON Brazil ILO Country Office for Brazil Labour Inspectorate, Ministry of Labour, Government of Brazil Cambodia Better Factories Cambodia Cambodian Ministry of Labour Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights India Labour Education and Research Network (LEARN), Maharashtra Jordan Better Work Jordan Korea Korean Solidarity Against Precarious Work Lesotho Mamohale Matsoso, Labour Commissioner, Ministry of Labour and Employment Lesotho National Development Corporation, Maseru Lesotho Textile Exporters Association (LTEA), Maseru Ministry of Trade and Development, Maseru Remmoho Compliance Solutions, Maseru United Textile Employees South Africa Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa Casual Workers Advice Office, Germiston Coastal Clothing Manufacturers Association Department of Labour Ethical Trading Initiative ILO Pretoria Office National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Industry South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) UK Ethical Trading Initiative Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) UNITE USA National Day Labourer Organizing Network, Los Angeles National Domestic Workers Alliance Solidarity Center, Washington, DC Viet Nam ILO Country Office for Viet Nam, Hanoi Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA), Hanoi |
| Collaborator Contribution | See above |
| Impact | See Key Findings |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | UNDP Accelerator Lab, Mexico |
| Organisation | UNDP Accelerator Lab, Mexico |
| Country | Mexico |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | UNDP Accelerator Lab (Mexico) is a member of the UFW Strategic Network and of a new spin-off network - the Network on Labour/Data Justice in the Global South, initiated in January 2020. This is a new stage of the Project which collaborates with partners from the UFW Network and others to investigate the design and implementation of regulatory frameworks that respond to the digital transformation of working life. For this purpose, it is establishing a network of local and international researchers and stakeholders who are working towards achieving labour/data justice through law-centred activities. The first phase of the Project explores law-centred initiatives to secure decent work for domestic workers in Mexico. The focus is on the rapid digitisation of the sector and the challenges it poses for labour/data justice in light of recent initiatives to improve the legal status of domestic workers. Our aim is to generate findings and recommendations that can contribute to policy and legal reform in Mexico, as well as to international initiatives. The project is funded by Durham University GCRF QR Funding, Durham University Strategic Priorities Fund and a University of Exeter GCRF Small Grant. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This partnership involves being kept up-to-date on our activities, providing comments on the overall direction of the project, and anticipated involvement a further grant application. |
| Impact | The Project is in first steps and has not produced any outputs yet. A Research/Impact Agenda is expected to be launched in the first half of 2020. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | University of Cape Town |
| Organisation | University of Cape Town |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The University of Cape Town was a project partner on the Strategic Network on Unacceptable Form of Work (2017), a Co-I institution on the project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018), and the DAC partner institution in the project on Law's Dynamic Effects in South Africa (2019-). |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018) was a collaboration between Durham University, UCT, York University Canada and the National University of Lesotho. |
| Impact | 1. Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work (2017): Network Team and Research Agenda on Enforcing Labour Laws. 2. Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work (2017): contributions to project outputs - global dialogues, project report, research briefings etc. See relevant sections of the form. 3. Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018): Regional Meeting, Cape Town (June 2018), DWR-Africa Regional Network of researchers and policy-makers; collaboration with National University of Lesotho; Findings and Recommendations on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018); Report on Enforcing Labour Laws in Southern Africa (2019); Framework for Decent Work Training Programme for Lesotho (2019). |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | York University Canada |
| Organisation | York University Toronto |
| Country | Canada |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | York University was a project partner on the Strategic Network on Unacceptable Form of Work (2017) and a Co-I institution on the project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Decent Work Regulation in Africa was a collaboration between Durham University, University of Cape Town, York University and the National University of Lesotho. |
| Impact | 1. Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work (2017): Network Team and Research Agenda on Enforcing Labour Laws. 2. Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work (2017): contributions to project outputs - global dialogues, project report, research briefings etc. See relevant sections of the form. 3. Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018): Regional Meeting, Cape Town (June 2018), DWR-Africa Regional Network of researchers and policy-makers; collaboration with National University of Lesotho; Findings and Recommendations on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018); Report on Enforcing Labour Laws in Southern Africa (2019); Framework for Decent Work Training Programme for Lesotho (2019); Rethabile's Story (documentary film, 2019). |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | 2018 - Artistic/awareness-raising collaboration: film-making |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The partnership with a film-making company - Dreamscope Productions - established through the Strategic Network funding has been extended as an innovative and very productive relationship in the Decent Work Regulation in Africa project. Drawing on contributions from research and policy partners, this collaboration has resulted in a number of videos, animations, presentations, and interviews on decent work regulation. These multimedia materials have been made available both on the project's website and Youtube channel. These multimedia materials include Voices from Southern Africa, a a series of interviews from the DWR-Africa project conducted during the Regional Meeting in Cape Town in June 2018. Together, the interviews provide a compelling and diverse account of the most important challenges for decent work regulation in the garment sector in southern Africa and beyond. The interviews are available on both the project's Youtube channel and website and are currently being circulated on Twitter. They have also been sent by email to the Decent Work Regulation in Africa network. A forthcoming short film - Rethabile's Story - conveys to a general audience the experience of working in the Lesotho garment sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/media/ |
| Description | 2018 - Network-building: new policy partnerships |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The field of labour regulation research has traditionally had a global North focus. The Strategic Network funding was invaluable in initiating and supporting international collaboration among key policy-actors. This funding generated a particularly fruitful research partnership with policy partners in southern Africa. GCRF/HEFCE funds during 2018 enabled us to extend these relationships and to develop increasingly extensive links with policy-makers and other stakeholders in the region. A central outcome of the DWR-Africa Project was to establish a Regional Network of researchers and policy-makers who have an interest in effective labour regulation. The project extended our Network in Southern Africa to include more than 40 policy partners. Network members include employers' associations, trade unions, researchers, government and international officials from Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and regional and international bodies with a presence in Africa, including the ILO. Our partners include the Labour Commissioner of Lesotho, the African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation, the United Textile Employees Union of Lesotho, Jacques Hau Clothing, the Mr Price Group, the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute, ILO Pretoria, the Lesotho National Development Corporation, the Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa, the South Africa Clothing and Textile Workers' Union, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing, Lesotho and the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/researcher/projectpartners/ |
| Description | 2018 - Network-building: new research partnerships |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | A new collaboration was established in 2018 with the National University of Lesotho in Roma, Lesotho. This collaboration is led by Dr Regina Kulehile, Head of the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law. Dr Kulehile's research interests are diverse and include aspects of the regulation of the informal economy in Lesotho, and the barriers to economic development in Lesotho, including the regulatory framework for electronic commerce, which was the focus of her PhD study. This partnership aims at working together with DWR-Africa's stakeholder partners in Lesotho to build capacity to improve working conditions in Lesotho, with an initial focus on work in the garment sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/lesotho/ |
| Description | 2018 - New Decent Work Regulation website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | During 2018, our website has been updated. Users can download all of the project's publications, podcasts, animations, presentations and videos. A new menu links to details on DWR research and policy participants and information about the Decent Work Regulation in Africa project. Users can download all of our publications, podcasts, animations, presentations and videos. There have also been some improvements to the Unacceptable Forms of Work page, where a presentation on the project with multimedia resources has been included. As a result of our work on the website, the level of user engagement with it increased substantially during 2018. Pageviews rose by more than 500% (7,296 from 1 Jan-28 Dec 2018) while unique pageviews increased by 470% (4.408 over the same period). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/ |
| Description | 2018 - Newsletter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Periodic newsletters on the project provide updates on project activities to Network members. The updates provided a summary of our main publications and events along with hyperlinks for downloading the full documents. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | 2018 - Research Briefings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Research briefs have been designed to outline the research questions, methodologies, and most substantial challenges involved in our work. During 2018, these conveyed the key activities and findings of the Decent Work Regulation in Africa (DWR-Africa) project. These included: (a) an overview brief on the DWR-Africa project; (b) a specific research brief on our fieldwork in Lesotho - 'Work-life, gender and informality in Lesotho'; and (c) a research brief on decent work regulation in the care economy and the garment sector from a gender perspective. These research briefs have been uploaded to the project's website, publicised on Twitter, and sent in hard copy to the project's research partners in 20 countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/publications/ |
| Description | 2018 - Social media activities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Decent Work Regulation project has an active Twitter account through which it communicates its main activities and provides information on the research's development and findings. Our tweets had 78.0K impressions from 1 July to 29 September 2018, an increase of 98% (39.2K impressions) during the same period in 2018. From 1 September to 30 November 2018 our tweets had 54.6K impressions, an increase of 225% from the same period in 2017. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/UnacceptableFoW |
| Description | 2019 - Article for the IISD SDG Knowledge Hub - Global Dialogue/Local Innovation: Labour Regulation as a Pathway to Achieving the SDGs |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On 12 February, Dr Arely Cruz-Santiago published a guest article for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) SDG Knowledge Hub. The article - Global Dialogue/Local Innovation: Labor Regulation as a Pathway to Achieving the SDGs - outlines the outcomes of the ESRC GCRF Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW), with which Dr Cruz-Santiago was a Project Manager from 2017-18. The article highlights that conditions of work and other dimensions of worker's lives - childcare, family life, the urban environment, transport etc. - are interlinked. As a result, the UN Sustainable Development Goals must be thought of in a holistic way. Achieving decent work - SDG8 - is an objective that cross-cuts the SDGs. It is fundamental, for example, to ending poverty (SDG1), reducing inequality (SDG10) sustaining sustainable cities (SDG11) and ensuring gender equality (SDG5). The article discusses the research agendas and project report produced by the Strategic Network. These identify 10 global challenges to effective labour regulation and argue for finding solutions by sharing experiences and ideas among countries in the global North and South. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| URL | http://sdg.iisd.org/commentary/guest-articles/global-dialoguelocal-innovation-labor-regulation-as-a-... |
| Description | 2019 - Article in The Conversation - Roma: How Alfonso Cuarón's Movie is Spurring Mexico to Treat Domestic Workers More Fairly |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article by Karina Patricio Ferreira Lima and Arely Cruz-Santiago (Durham University) in The Conversation that responds to the Oscar success of Alfonso Cuaron's film Roma. The article highlights innovations on labour rights for domestic workers in Latin America and reflects on how the film comes at a timely moment for legal reforms in Mexico. The article, titled 'Roma: how Alfonso Cuarón's movie is spurring Mexico to treat domestic workers more fairly', reflects on the main challenges for the legal regulation of domestic work worldwide. It puts Latin America at centre stage as a region that has made significant improvements in this area since the 2000s, even if Mexico is only finally catching up. In this regard, the authors suggest that there are reasons to believe that legislative reforms may be on the way in Mexico. While these developments owe much to workers' campaigning and political changes in the country, Roma has played an important role by highlighting the struggle of the profession. If the promising signs in Mexico bear fruit, Cuarón's masterpiece will have helped secure decent conditions for domestic workers in a country which has denied them for too long. Roma surely deserves its Hollywood awards, but achieving real reform will be worth a great deal more. After being featured in The Conversation, the article was published by the World Economic Forum. It was also translated into Spanish and published in the blog Animal Politico (Mexico). Karina Patricio Ferreira Lima is a doctoral researcher in Law and works as a Research Assistant on the Project on Decent Work Regulation. She is also a Modern Law Review Scholar. Arely Cruz-Santiago is an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Geography and worked as a Project Manager on the DWR Project from 2017-18. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/roma-how-alfonso-cuarons-movie-is-spurring-mexico-to-treat-domestic-work... |
| Description | 2019 - Co-Sponsorship of the 6th Regulating for Decent Work Conference: 'Work and Well-Being in the 21st Century', 8-10 July 2019, UN Geneva |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Regulating for Decent Work (RDW) Conference was held in the UN International Labour Office, Geneva, from 8-10 July 2019. The Conference was co-hosted by Durham Law School with the support of follow-up funding from the Durham University ESRC Impact Acceleration Account and from the Durham Law School Research Impact Fund. Focused on the future of work, the conference aimed to advance understanding of the innovative institutions and policies that can help to ensure a more equitable and just society, and coincided with the ILO's Centenary celebrations. The Conference attracted 450 participants from over 55 countries and held 74 parallel sessions with over 260 presentations. During the conference, the project team showcased project publications and interviewed participants about the policy implications of their research. The interviews will be made available as part of our impact activities on social media. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ilo.org/global/research/events-courses/rdw/6/lang--en/index.htm |
| Description | 2019 - Forthcoming: 6th Regulating for Decent Work Conference, 8-10 July 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The 6th Regulating for Decent Work (RDW) Conference will be held in the International Labour Office, Geneva, from 8-10 July 2019. Durham Law School is a co-host of the Conference along with the University of Amsterdam's Institute for Labour Studies / Hugo Sinzheimer Instituut (AIAS-HSI), Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (Cornell ILR School), the University of Melbourne's Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law (CELRL), Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies (CISLS), the University of Duisburg-Essen's Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation (IAQ), the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), the Korea Labour Institute (KLI), and the University of Manchester's Work and Equalities Institute (WEI). The 2019 RDW conference will focus on the future of work, to advance our understanding of the innovative institutions and policies that could help to ensure a more equitable and just society. This conference will contribute to the global debates during the ILO's 100th anniversary in 2019. A Special Session has been organised that focuses on the work of the Decent Work Regulation in Africa project. The Session - Africa in the Future of Work - will launch our documentary on the Lesotho garment industry - Rethabile's Story - and host a round table on the contribution of the project to the global debates on the future of work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ilo.org/global/research/events-courses/rdw/6/lang--en/index.htm |
| Description | 2019 - GCRF Impact Case Study |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In February 2019, the PI submitted details on the impact of grant ES/P00746/1 towards a GCRF Impact Case Study. The submission highlighted the significance of the project to the global population of 1.4 billion engaged in Unacceptable Forms of Work and its impact on changing global labour policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 2019 - Interview to the ILO's Communication Department |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On 8th July 2019, the project's principal investigator, Deirdre McCann, was interviewed by the ILO's Communication Department during the Regulating for Decent Work (RDW) Conference at the International Labour Office, Geneva. Professor McCann talked about the importance of decent work regulation at multiple levels and highlighted the recent developments of the project. As for 21 August 2019, the interview has been viewed by more than 4.6k users on Twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/AdamBowers7/status/1148234815470211072 |
| Description | 2019 - Launch of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) at Durham University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On Thursday 31st January, the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) at Durham University hosted the launch of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT). Nine Principal Investigators from across the University the introduced their CDT projects, all of which address one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Deirdre McCann presented the project on 'Law's Dynamic Effects: The Case of South Africa', which will investigate the introduction of a national minimum wage in South Africa in January 2019. The research will be conducted by Sufinnah Singlee and supervised by Professor McCann and Professor John Linarelli at Durham Law School. About Durham University's CDT The CDT will support a cohort of around 20 students working on a specific challenge in one or more of the areas of the UN Sustainable Development Goals with all PhD students coming from a DAC nation. All PhD projects are interdisciplinary and will be supervised by academic staff from different departments in partnership with a university in an overseas DAC nation, and may include collaboration with other organisations. PhD candidates in the CDT will participate in a wide ranging and comprehensive training programme to equip them to make an effective contribution in their area of expertise following completion of their PhD. The PhD will include a placement in the partner DAC nation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/news/ |
| Description | 2019 - Presentation of Study on Developmental Enforcement, Conference on Regulating for Decent Work, UN ILO Geneva, 10 July 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On 10 July 2019, the Principal Investigator, Professor Deirdre McCann (Durham Law School), and project partner Professor Kelly Pike (York University Canada) presented the findings of a forthcoming study on the enforcement of public and private labour standards in South Africa and Lesotho. The study - Developmental Enforcement? - is co-authored with Shane Godfrey, Debbie Collier, Roger Ronnie, and Abigail Osiki of the Labour and Enterprise Policy Research Group, University of Cape Town. It was presented on 10 July as part of a session on Enforcement Innovation: Lessons from the Garment Sector. The Session also included papers by Youbin Kang (University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA) on Access to Justice after Rana Plaza and Tamara Brezighello Hojaij (Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil) on The Brazilian Labour Prosecution Office and Business Liability for Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains. The presentation slides are available at: https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/law/UFW/PikeMcCann2019Slides_final.pdf |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/news/ |
| Description | 2019 - Rethabile's Story |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In 2019, the project launched Rethabile's Story, a short film on life in the Lesotho garment factories. Directed and produced by Dreamscope TV, the documentary is narrated by Rethabile Ratsiu, a former factory worker in Maseru, Lesotho, who introduces us to working life in the garment factories and her involvement in the Decent Work Regulation Project. The film highlights the work of the Decent Work Regulation-Africa project in Lesotho, which is a follow-up activity from the ESRC Strategic Network grant. The project is working towards more effective implementation of labour rights In Lesotho with a particular focus on work-life balance, gender, and informality. The project is a collaboration between Durham University and the National University of Lesotho, University of Cape Town, and York University Toronto. The full version of Rethabile's Story will be launched at the Regulating for Decent Work Conference, International Labour Office, Geneva, 8-10 July 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/rethabilesstory/ |
| Description | 2019 - Rethabile's Story Launch, ILO Geneva, 8 July 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 8th July 2019, the project's short film on working life in the Lesotho garment sector - Rethabile's Story - was launched at the United Nations International Labour Organization in Geneva. The director and producer, Darren Hutchinson, presented the film and took audience questions. The film was simultaneously launched on the project's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqTHTZBu64s). A short (8 minute) version is available both on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvsAuc6WyPE) and Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/344574926). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/rethabilesstory/specialsession/ |
| Description | 2019 - Round Table on Africa in the Future of Work, United Nations ILO Geneva, 8 July 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On 8th July 2019, the project held a round table discussion on Africa in the Future of Work at the United Nations International Labour Organization in Geneva. The Panel Discussion involved leading experts on regulation in the region. They shared insights and recent experience on the garment sector and broader enforcement strategies across the sub-region. The discussants were: Limpho Mandoro (Social Dialogue and Labour Administration Specialist, ILO Pretoria), Natasja Ambrosio ( Head of Sustainability, Mr Price Group, South Africa), Kelly Pike (Director, Global Research Centre, York University Canada), Marlese von Broembsen (WIEGO). The panel was chaired by Professor Deirdre McCann, Principal Investigator of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/rethabilesstory/specialsession/ |
| Description | 2019 - Stakeholder Engagement, United Nations/National Stakeholders |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | During an international engagement visit to the United Nations, Geneva, Professor Deirdre McCann, Principal Investigator of the project held meetings with key project partners to discuss ongoing engagement and future opportunities. These included Manuela Tomei (Director, Conditions of work and Equality Department, International Labour Office, Geneva), Sangheon Lee (Director, Employment Department, ILO, Geneva) Uma Rani (Research Department, ILO Geneva), and Lisa Heap (Victoria Trades Hall Council, Victoria, Australia). Engagement with stakeholders included promoting the project's publications and events and discussing future research and impact activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Article in Medium - Now That We Care About Carers: Temporal Casualisation in 'Mencap' and 'Uber' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Deirdre McCann published a Medium blog on the UK Court of Appeal decisions in Uber and Mencap, which are being heard by the Supreme Court in 2020. The piece explores what these cases reveal about the regulatory dimensions of temporal casualisation. It argues that the cases expose a fracture between, on the one hand, legal frameworks on working time and wages, and on the other hand, a sectoral and gendered treatment of working hours. The blog highlights the pertinence of Professor McCann's Framed Flexibility Model to conceptualising and regulating working time in these cases, with a particular focus on Mencap. Professor McCann argues that the Supreme Court should uphold and clarify the Court of Appeal's decision in Uber and overturn the judgment in Mencap. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://medium.com/@UnacceptableFoW/now-that-we-care-about-carers-temporal-casualisation-in-mencap-a... |
| Description | Article in Medium - Work-life Balance is a Global Dream: Just Listen to Workers Themselves |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This is an article by Deirdre McCann and Kelly Pike in Medium on work-life balance in the global South, with a particular focus on the South African and Lesotho garment sectors. The article suggests that work-life balance is a global aspiration of workers both in the global North and South. Workers in lower-income countries also aspire to working lives that allow them to care for their families. This issue is critically significant for workers in the South African and Lesotho garment industries, which are strongly female-dominated - 80% of workers are women, many of them with caring responsibilities. Drawing on the research findings of the project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa, the authors argue that work-life balance should be at the heart of decent labour regulation for all workers, including towards realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://link.medium.com/w2WafnpKe4 |
| Description | Article in The Conversation: Lessons on Labour Regulation from the Global South |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Conversation: Lessons on Labour Regulation from the Global South An article in The Conversation by Professor Deirdre McCann asked what lessons can be learned from the project on Unacceptable Forms of Work for the regulation of the gig economy and forced labour in high-income countries. The article draws on the Project research agendas to call for lessons to be learned from the global South on combatting unacceptable work. The article highlights: - Preliminary findings from the Decent Work Regulation in Africa project that work/family issues are a pressing concern for many workers in the garment sector in Southern Africa; - Lessons from Brazil on the effective regulation of forced labour; - A model from India on head-load work that can be drawn on to inspire law reforms in high-income countries to protect workers in the 'gig economy.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-combat-forced-labour-and-in-work-poverty-brazil-and-india-off... |
| Description | Article in the LSE Social Policy Blog - 'How to protect the women who make our clothes? Worker voice is vital in the pandemic' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Project members Professor Deirdre McCann, Professor Kelly Pike and Karina Patricio Ferreira Lima have just published a piece in the LSE Social Policy Blog that discusses the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the global garment workforce, with a particular focus on Lesotho. The blog draws on the research of the DWR-Africa project to explore the need for global cooperation to protect garment workers from the health and safety challenges and economic hardship brought on by the pandemic, including through strengthened worker voice. The piece assesses the potential of recent international initiatives to support manufacturers and to preserve workers' incomes, health, and employment. It looks at the Call for Action in the global garment industry that has been adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and endorsed by key signatories and the efforts of Better Work to integrate work/family into policy responses to COVID-19. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/socialpolicy/2020/07/09/how-to-protect-the-women-who-make-our-clothes-worker... |
| Description | Article in the Oxford Human Rights Hub - Now That We Care About Carers: Temporal Casualisation in 'Mencap' and 'Uber' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Deirdre McCann published a blog in the Oxford Human Rights Hub on the UK Court of Appeal decisions in Uber and Mencap, which are being heard by the Supreme Court in 2020. The piece explores what these cases reveal about the regulatory dimensions of temporal casualisation. It argues that the cases expose a fracture between, on the one hand, legal frameworks on working time and wages, and on the other hand, a sectoral and gendered treatment of working hours. The blog highlights the pertinence of Professor McCann's Framed Flexibility Model to conceptualising and regulating working time in these cases, with a particular focus on Mencap. Professor McCann argues that the Supreme Court should uphold and clarify the Court of Appeal's decision in Uber and overturn the judgment in Mencap. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/now-that-we-care-about-carers-temporal-casualisation-in-mencap-and-uber/ |
| Description | December 2018 - National-Level Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Lesotho |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | On 6th and 7th December 2018, DWR-Africa hosted a National-Level Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Lesotho. The stakeholder meeting was organised by our Lesotho project team led by Professor Debbie Collier of the Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town. It was a collaboration with the National University of Lesotho, led by Dr Regina Kulehile of the Faculty of Law. The event brought together trade union partners in Lesotho, including UNITE, IDUL, NACTWU, and LENTSOE LA SECHABA, among others. Themes under discussion included effective engagement with labour regulation frameworks, gender and work/life issues, informality, unacceptable work, and the changing/evolving role of trade unions. The Meeting identified a particular need for learning and skills development that focuses on making legal rights effective in practice, promoting decent work, and protecting workers from unacceptable forms of work. The event builds on an ongoing DWR-Africa collaboration with researchers and local stakeholders in Southern Africa aimed at improving labour regulation with a focus on the garment sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/lesotho/ |
| Description | Decent Work Regulation Project Note |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This Project Note introduces the Project and all of our research activities from 2017-21. The publication summarises the project's activities, events, and outputs since it was established through an ESRC/GCRF Strategic Network Grant on Legal Regulation of Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW) (2017-18). Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the project established a global network that now includes more than 60 research and policy bodies in 20 countries across the world. In 2018-19, the Project launched Decent Work Regulation in Africa (DWR-Africa), which established a regional network of researchers and stakeholders in southern Africa, conducted research on challenges to labour law enforcement in the region, and generated recommendations for research and regulatory policy. In 2019, the Project launched the Labour/Data Justice Project (2019-21), which is focusing on the design and implementation of regulatory frameworks that can improve job quality in the context of the digitisation of working life. A first phase of the project will investigate novel law-centred initiatives to secure decent work for domestic workers in Mexico. The focus is on the rapid digitisation of the sector and the challenges it poses for labour/data justice. The publication is available in English and Spanish. A version of this document in Portuguese will be made available soon. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/publications/dwrprojectnote/ |
| Description | Decent Work Regulation website redesign, Summer 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | My website - Decent Work Regulation - presents an overview of this research and shares news, publications, events etc. The website was redesigned and updated in Summer 2021. The aim was to benefit from Durham University's new web environment and make the project and its outcomes as accessible as possible to a global audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/law/research/decent-work-regulation/ |
| Description | Developmental Enforcement Report - Spanish Translation of Executive Summary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | An Executive Summary of our report on Developmental Enforcement (2019) was translated into Spanish and made available on the project website. The report is on improving enforcement of legal standards in the garment industry in southern Africa. Its lessons are relevant to policy-makers across the world who aim to improve working conditions in the garment sector, in global value chains, and more broadly across working life. Primarily for our Latin American audience, we translated the report's Executive Summary. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/project/ |
| Description | Engagement Activities during 2018 - Introduction |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In 2018 the PI was awarded GCRF/HEFCE funds from the University of Durham (£90,000) to build upon the success of the Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work. These funds supported a project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (DWR-Africa) that included extensive engagement activities. On the project, which is a collaboration with the University of Cape Town and York University Canada, see further https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/. The HEFCE/GCRF funds supported an expansion of the work of the ESRC Strategic Network and extensive research and impact activities in Southern Africa. The DWR-Africa project established an extended Regional Network of researchers and policy-makers in Southern Africa; held a Regional Meeting in Cape Town of stakeholders from across Southern Africa (18th June 2018); and supported a pilot research project on Enforcement of Labour Laws in Southern Africa that involved field work among garment factory stakeholders and workers in South Africa and Lesotho. The project's engagement activities have triggered an ongoing stakeholder dialogue among national, regional and international actors on legal strategies that can achieve decent work in the region. Other entries in this section of the form provide a detailed account of these engagements initiatives, which comprise policy partnerships, events, media, and social media activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/ |
| Description | Financial Times article on my research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | My paper on two Supreme Court judgments on Uber drivers and care workers was the subject of an article in the Financial Times by award-winning journalist Sarah O'Connor ('Sometimes Sleeping on the Job Should be Paid Too,' Financial Times, 23rd March 2021). This piece introduced my work to a global readership of 26 million readers and attracted extensive interest (more than 100 comments). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ft.com/content/c932b78a-f9e0-452f-8f64-b7b29e02a05d |
| Description | Global Challenges Summit 2018, Newcastle UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Professor Deirdre McCann spoke about the Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work at the Global Challenges Summit 2018, held in Newcastle University on 24 July. Hosted by Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria Universities, the Summit brought together participants from across the world including Herman Mashaba, the Mayor of Johannesburg, Salha Kaitesi, Founder of Beauty of Rwanda, and Peter White, COO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Professor McCann called for workers' rights to be placed at the heart of sustainable development and of efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She presented the UFW Report and talked about the DWR-Africa Project. Related to the event, the study on Unacceptable Forms of Work was featured in the Northern Echo. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/news/ |
| Description | Global Multi-Scalar Dialogue: A New Model of Stakeholder Engagement |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A research briefing was produced by the project and disseminated through social media and on the project website. The briefing outlines the project's novel approach to stakeholder engagement, which it has designed and tested since 2017. This is a global multi-scalar model of research design grounded in dialogue with researchers from multiple disciplines and a wide range of non-academic stakeholders. Rather than centring on a single scalar focus, the model involves intersecting engagement at the international-, regional-, and national-levels. The research briefing highlights the use of the global multi-scalar model in the project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (DWR-Africa). This project involved key stakeholders in labour law and policy, including government ministries and agencies, trade unions, employers' associations, buyers, the International Labour Organization and other United Nations agencies, national development institutes, compliance auditors, international and local NGOs, and industry bodies. The multi-scalar dialogue generated valuable lessons. Extensive stakeholder consultation revealed research topics that might otherwise have been overlooked. These included issues that are rapidly evolving or neglected in the policy debates e.g. work/life balance as a key concern for workers in the garment sector, concerns about risks encountered beyond the workplace, such as unsafe or unreliable transport, complex intersections of formal and informal work, and the challenges posed by fragmented regulatory frameworks. The global multi-scalar dialogue model also produced significant collaborations and continuing dialogue among stakeholders in the region. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/law/UFW/GlobalMulti-ScalarDialogueResearchBrief.pdf |
| Description | International Conference on Regulating for Decent Work 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I co-organised the international Regulating For Decent Work Conference (July 2021). I co-founded this biannual international conference, which is the only global interdisciplinary conference on labour regulation and has a central purpose of encouraging dialogue between researchers and policy-makers. The 2021 Conference was focused on a just recovery from the Covid pandemic with a particular focus on social and economic development and the welfare of DAC-list countries including gender, inclusivity and equality and environmental sustainability (ODA-relevant outcomes). It was held virtually over 3 days from the ILO in Geneva (20 sessions; 74 speakers from over 40 countries; more than 300 participants). The ILO Director-General Guy Ryder closed the Conference, emphasising the crucial opportunity that it provided for dialogue between the UN and the academic community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ilo.org/global/research/events-courses/rdw/7/lang--en/index.htm |
| Description | International Seminar on Internships, Employability and the Searh for Decent Work Experience, International Labour Office, Geneva |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I was an invited speaker at the International Seminar on Internships, Employability and the Search for Decent Work Experience, International Labour Office, Geneva (November 2021). The seminar was organised by the UN International Labour Organization and University of Adelaide Law School. Other participants include Professor Rosemary Owens, Emerita Professor, Adelaide Law School and member of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (the international body of experts on states' compliance with international labour laws). It sparked interest among international policy-makers at the UN and participants including policy-makers from across the world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | June 2018 - Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Project held a Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa in the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, on 18 June 2018. The event brought together stakeholders from countries across sub-Saharan Africa, including from government Ministries, labour inspectorates, trade unions, employers' associations, auditors, and retailers. They were joined by researchers from the partner universities. The Meeting provided the opportunity for a regional dialogue on regulatory strategies that can achieve decent work in the African context. The focus was on the enforcement of labour laws in the garment sector. In particular, participants considered whether involving a range of stakeholders in enforcement (e.g. through multi-stakeholder models) can extend the reach of labour standards. The Meeting was particularly notable in elevating the policy conversation - previously often confined to individual countries - to the regional level. This effort encompassed the participation of stakeholders who had previously had limited opportunities to engage in the debate, from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Swaziland. A report has been elaborated to reflect the Meeting's findings and conclusions. It aims to make a useful contribution to research on effective labour standards, and on decent work in the garment sector, both in Africa and in countries across the world. The document has been uploaded to the project's website, publicised on Twitter, and sent both by email and in hard copy to the participants. As for 3 January 2019, it has been downloaded 150 times from the website and had 10,200 impressions on Twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/regionalmeeting/ |
| Description | Labour/Data Justice Project Note |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This Project Note on the Labour/Data Justice (LDJ) Project introduces the Project's new research activities on working conditions regulation in the context of the digital transformation of working life. The LDJ Project is supporting a set of linked research and policy activities towards understanding and improving labour market regulation within the context of 'digitisation.' A first phase of the project investigates novel, globally-significant, law-centred initiatives to improve the conditions of domestic workers in Mexico. The aim is to generate findings and recommendations that can help to shape national and international legal policy on domestic work and the digitisation working life. This publication is available in English and Spanish. A Portuguese version will be available soon. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/publications/ldjprojectnote/ |
| Description | Labour/Data Justice in the Global South: A Research/Impact Agenda |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Our GCRF Funded Network on Labour/Data Justice in the Global South (see Further Funding) designed a Research/Impact Agenda (RIA) to support the investigation and evaluation of law-centred strategies on LDJ with a particular focus on the global South. The Research/Impact Agenda explores the background to the project - the rapid digitalisation of labour markets of the global North and South; explains the Labour/Data Justice (LDJ) conceptual framework; and sets out the project's research protocol, impact strategy, development objectives, and gender equality dimensions. The RIA also outlines an initial Case Study on the domestic work sector in Mexico. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Policy Briefing: Framed Flexibility: A New Model for Working Time Laws |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Project has published a policy briefing on the Framed Flexibility Model, a framework for working time laws that is suited to the contemporary labour markets of the global North and South. Designed by Deirdre McCann and Jill Murray, the Model responds to an urgent need: to find effective regulatory models for the precarious and informal working relations that are expanding across the advanced industrialised world and have long been characteristic of the South. This policy briefing outlines the principles and sets of standards that underpin the Framed Flexibility Model. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/publications/framedflexibility/ |
| Description | Policy Briefing: Model Law on Working Time in Domestic Work |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Project has published a policy briefing on the Framed Flexibility Model, a framework for working time laws that is suited to the contemporary labour markets of the global North and South. Designed by Deirdre McCann and Jill Murray, the Model responds to an urgent need: to find effective regulatory models for the precarious and informal working relations that are expanding across the advanced industrialised world and have long been characteristic of the South. This policy briefing is accompanied by a practical illustration of how the Framed Flexibility Standards can be applied in the regulation of working time in one of the key forms of informal labour: domestic work. This separate Policy Briefing outlines the Model Law, which is adaptable for use in a range of sectors to prevent casual work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/publications/framedflexibility/ |
| Description | Presentation at the workshop 'Gender Equality in International Development Research', Durham University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 14th February 2020, the Project participated in the workshop 'Gender Equality in International Development Research', organised by Durham University's Research Development team for academic institutions across the North East. The workshop guided researchers about the issues they need to consider around Gender Equality when designing International Development projects, and what UKRI's expectations are in this respect, including guidance on writing Gender Equality statements for GCRF proposals. Professor Deirdre McCann was invited to share her experience of incorporating gender equality into research on international development. In particular, she presented the project on Decent Work Regulation as a case study with multiple considerations of gender equality in research on labour law in the global South. The presentation included an overview of past projects on Unacceptable Forms of Work and Decent Work Regulation in Africa, along with the new project on Labour/Data Justice for domestic workers in Mexico. The workshop also included presentations from Dr. Baljinder Bains (International Development Team, Policy Manager at UKRI), Professor Andrew Burton (School of Arts & Cultures, Newcastle University) and Dr. Steve Chivasa (Department of Biosciences, Durham University). The slides of Professor McCann's presentation can be downloaded at . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/dialogue/signposts/staff/?itemno=40941 |
| Description | Project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (2018-): Engagement Activities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In 2018 I was awarded GCRF/HEFCE funds from the University of Durham (£90,000) to build upon the success of the Strategic Network on Unacceptable Forms of Work. These funds supported a project on Decent Work Regulation in Africa (DWR-Africa) that included extensive engagement activities. On the project - a collaboration with the University of Cape Town and York University Canada - see further https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/. The HEFCE/GCRF funds enabled me to expand the work of the Network into extensive research and impact activities in Southern Africa. The DWR-Africa project produced an extended Regional Network of researchers and policy-makers in Southern Africa; hosted a Regional Meeting in Cape Town of stakeholders from across Southern Africa (18th June 2018); and supported a pilot research project on Enforcement of Labour Laws in Southern Africa that involved field work among garment factory stakeholders and workers in South Africa and Lesotho. The project's engagement activities have triggered an ongoing stakeholder dialogue among national, regional and international actors on legal strategies that can achieve decent work in the region. 1. Network-building: New Policy Partnerships The field of labour regulation research has traditionally had a focus on the global North. The Strategic Network funding was invaluable in initiating and supporting international collaboration among key policy-actors. This funding generated a particularly fruitful research partnership with policy partners in southern Africa. The GCRF/HEFCE funds enabled me to extend these relationships and to develop increasingly extensive links with policy-makers and other stakeholders in the region. A central aim of the DWR-Africa Project has been to establish a Regional Network of researchers and policy-makers who have an interest in effective labour regulation. The project extended our Network in Southern Africa to include more than 40 policy partners. Network members include employers' associations, trade unions, researchers, government and international officials from Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and regional and international bodies with a presence in Africa, including the ILO. Our partners include the Labour Commissioner of Lesotho, the African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation, the United Textile Employees Union of Lesotho, Jacques Hau Clothing, the Mr Price Group, the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute, ILO Pretoria, the Lesotho National Development Corporation, the Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa, the South Africa Clothing and Textile Workers' Union, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing, Lesotho, and the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland. 2. Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa The Project held a Regional Meeting on Decent Work Regulation in Africa in the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town on 18 June 2018. The Meeting provided the opportunity for a regional dialogue on regulatory strategies that can achieve decent work in the African context. The focus was on the enforcement of labour laws in the garment sector. In particular, participants considered whether involving a range of stakeholders in enforcement (e.g. through multi-stakeholder models) can extend the reach of labour standards. The Meeting was particularly notable in elevating the policy conversation - previously often confined to individual countries - to the regional level. This effort encompassed the participation of stakeholders who had previously had limited opportunities to engage in the debate, from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Swaziland. For an outline of the Regional Meeting, including a full report of its findings and conclusions, see https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/regionalmeeting/ 3. Artistic/awareness-raising collaboration: film-making The partnership with a film-making company - Dreamscope Productions - established through the Strategic Network funding has been extended as an innovative and productive relationship through the Decent Work Regulation in Africa project. This collaboration has supported a set of video diaries of our work: Voices from Southern Africa, available at https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/voices/. Voices from Southern Africa is a series of interviews from the DWR-Africa project conducted during our Regional Meeting in Cape Town in June 2018. Together, the interviews provide a compelling and diverse account of the most important challenges for decent work regulation in the garment sector in southern Africa and beyond. The interviews are available on both our Youtube channel and website and have been circulated on Twitter. A forthcoming short film - Rethabile's Story - conveys to a general audience the experience of working in the Lesotho garment sector - forthcoming at https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/media/. 4. Framework for a Training Programme on Decent Work Regulation in Southern Africa, Lesotho, December 2018 Our engagement with stakeholders in Lesotho has highlighted a particular interest in training for trade union actors to engage more vigorously in ensuring the effective implementation of labour rights contained in the Lesotho Labour Code and the national effort to realise the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG8. To that end, in collaborations with our partners the project has generated a Framework for a Training Programme on Decent Work Regulation in Southern Africa (December 2018). 5. New Decent Work Regulation Website During 2018, our website was updated, including to circulate information on the Decent Work Regulation in Africa project among our extensive partner network and the general public. All of our publications, podcasts, animations, presentations and videos can be downloaded from the site - https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/. 6. User Engagement: Website/Social Media The level of user engagement with both our website and Twitter account continued to increase substantially during 2018. Pageviews on our website increased by more than 500% (7,296 from 1 Jan-28 Dec 2018) while unique pageviews increased by 470% (4,408 over the same period). Our tweets had 78.0K impressions from 1 July to 29 September 2018, an increase of 98% (39.2K impressions) compared to the same period in 2017. From 1 September to 30 November 2018 our tweets attracted 54.6K impressions, an increase of 225% from the same period in 2017. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/ |
| Description | Research Briefing: 'Regulating Unacceptable Forms of Work: A Strategic Approach' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Upgrading low-waged and insecure work is crucial for worker protection and sustainable development, including to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. For this purpose, effective labour regulation is essential. Yet the regulatory frameworks that can improve Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW) are underdeveloped. The Multidimensional Model of UFW has been designed for local stakeholders to identify and address UFW in local contexts. This Research Briefing focuses on the regulatory dimension of the Multidimensional Model. It outlines a new strategic approach to UFW regulation that supports development objectives, acknowledges the limited resources of low-income countries, and aims at extensive and sustainable effects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/law/UFW/DLSResearchBriefing4-2019-RegulatingUFW-AStrategicApproach-P... |
| Description | Rethabile's Story Screening at the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF), Toronto, Canada |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Rethabile's Story, the Project's short film on working life in the Lesotho garment factories was one of twenty-five films selected from the hundreds submitted to the eleventh annual Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF). The film was screened on Saturday, 23 November 2019 at 5.30pm at Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton St, Toronto. Cliff is a film festival devoted to stories of workers - unionised and non-unionised - and open to the public. Since 2009, CLiFF has been screening films about workers, the conditions under which they live and work, and related social justice issues in over 130 locations across Canada. The festival has become a platform for the voices of workers who seek justice on the job and dignity in their workplaces. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://labourfilms.ca/2019-festival/2019-cliff-film-synopses/ |
| Description | Rethabile's Story screening at the Workers Unite Online Film Festival, 8-18 October 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Rethabile's Story, the project's short film on working life in the Lesotho garment industry, was part of the official selection in the 9th season of the Workers' Unite Film Festival (WUFF), the largest worker solidarity themed film festival in the United States. The Festival was originally set to take place in September at Cinema Village in Greenwich Village, one of the oldest continuously operated art cinemas in New York City. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, screenings were to an online format. The 9th season of WUFF was hosted at a Virtual Festival Hub on Eventive. Films were available to watch/unlock from 8 October (10am EST) to 18 October 2020 (11.45pm EST). Attendees could purchase single ($7.50), 5-pack ($25) or full passes ($35) and unlock the selected film or programme one time during the duration of the festival. WUFF is a celebration of global labour solidarity. It showcases student and professional films from the United States and around the world which publicise and highlight the struggles, successes and daily lives of all workers in their efforts to unite and organise for better living conditions and social justice. Through dozens of documentary screenings, community forums, and interactive events across New York City, the festival provides working people with a platform to tell their stories while leading a movement for meaningful change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.workersunitefilmfestival.org/virtual-fest-info |
| Description | Rethabile's Story: Screening at the 72th Annual Meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA), Portland, OR, USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Rethabile's Story, the DWR-Africa project's short film on life in the Lesotho garment factories, will have its US premiere in June 2020. The documentary will be screened at the opening session of the 72th Annual Meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA), the leading labour and employment relations network in the country. The opening session will be led by Dennis L. Dabney (Kaiser Permanente), LERA President and Adrienne E. Eaton (Rutgers University), LERA President-Elect and Programme Chair. Rethabile's Story will set the scene for three sessions dedicated to labour standards in global supply chains, organised by Professor Kelly Pike (York University, Canada) of the DWR-Africa project and Professor Greg Distelhorst (University of Toronto). The LERA 72th Annual Meeting will take place from 13-16 June at the Hilton Portland Downtown, Portland, OR. It will include over 80 workshops and sessions and the participation of more than 350 presenters from every community focused on 'the world of work'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/rethabilesstory/lera/ |
| Description | Rethabile's Story: Screening at the 9th Workers Unite Film Festival (Online Streaming), USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Rethabile's Story, the project's short film on working life in the Lesotho garment sector, had its US premiere on 23 May 2020. The documentary was officially selected for the 9th season of the Workers' Unite Film Festival (WUFF), the largest worker solidarity themed film festival in the United States. The WUFF was originally set to take place this month at Cinema Village in Greenwich Village one of the oldest continuously operated art cinemas in New York City. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the live event has been postponed until 25 September 2020. However, the organisers selected some of this season's films to stream on the WUFF website ahead of time. Rethabile's Story was part of the online screening nights and was watched by 118 people, according to the event organisers. WUFF showcases student and professional films from the United States and around the world which publicise and highlight the struggles, successes and daily lives of all workers in their efforts to unite and organise for better living conditions and social justice. The 9th season of the event was the biggest yet, with over 30 programmes throughout NYC and over 60 films and events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.workersunitefilmfestival.org/ |
| Description | September 2018 - DWR-Africa Lesotho Trade Unions Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | On 28 September, Decent Work Regulation in Africa (DWR-Africa) project team members Ms Ithabeleng Duma (Lesotho Research Lead, Maseru) and Professor Debbie Collier (University of Cape Town) organised the DWR-Africa Lesotho Trade Unions Workshop in Maseru. The event brought together representatives of the project's key local union partners, from UNITE, IDUL, NACTWU, and LENTSOE LA SECHABA. The workshop discussed the objectives of the DWR-Africa project and how they relate to the priorities and aims of trade unions and workers in Lesotho. The local stakeholders shared their perspectives on recent developments in the garment industry. The participants also considered potential future activities that could combine the needs and priorities of the academic community and stakeholders. The workshop established common ground towards improved collaboration between research and union partners in Lesotho. It inaugurated a dialogue that is expected to continue in a series of regular meetings to share ideas and experience of labour regulation in Lesotho. The event is part of a broader series of research/stakeholder activities during 2018 that are centred on working conditions in Lesotho. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/africa/lesotho/ |
| Description | Strategic Network engagement activities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Engagement activities are integrated across the work of the Strategic Network on Legal Regulation of Unacceptable Forms of Work. The overarching objective of the Network is to influence law and policy at the global and local levels. Network members are drawn from more than 30 global and international policy bodies including the EU, United Nations, WIEGO, UNRISD and Labour Ministries, Labour Inspectorate, trade unions, employers and NGOs from countries in all regions (see Collaborations and Partnerships). These members have been integrated into the Network from the outset, including on Network Teams and on the Global Advisory Board, shaping the project's Research Agendas and providing guidance on the most effective pathways to impact at the global and local levels. The Research Agendas on Innovative UFW Regulation that have been produced by the Network Teams integrate ongoing engagement with research users, in research design, research activities, and impact and engagement during the life of the proposed research projects and beyond. Towards future impact, each of the Network Research Agendas includes a Pathway to Impact Strategy that was designed in collaboration with local policy actors. These Strategies incorporate continuing dialogue with key local policy actors to influence legislative reform, enforcement strategies, collective bargaining etc. The Network communication strategy has also been designed to engage in a highly accessible manner with policy actors and broader public audiences by providing information on the project through a devoted website, twitter feed, accessible information materials, Network videos etc. Durham University ESRC IAA funding secured by the Principal Investigator (see Further Funding) (February-May 2018) is directed towards enhancing and extending Network engagement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://unacceptablework.com |
| Description | Submission to UK Low Pay Commission consultation on minimum wage laws |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I made a submission to a UK Low Pay Commission consultation on minimum wage laws (June 2021). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Submission to UK government consultation on Measures to Extend the Ban on Exclusivity Clauses in Contracts of Employment (Feb 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I made a submission to a UK government consultation on the legal regulation of zero hours contracts (specifically on 'exclusivity clauses') (February 2021). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | UFW Report 2018: Unacceptable Forms of Work: Global Dialogue/Local Innovation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The report Unacceptable Forms of Work: Global Dialogue/Local Innovation has been produced to outline the research agendas of the project Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW). The research agendas were designed to respond to the 9 Global Challenges to effective labour rights identified by the research team of the project. The report is the product of an international consultation that has involved researchers and policy-makers from 50 research and policy organisations in more than 20 countries across the world. A response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it calls for effective labour regulation to secure economic growth and decent work (SDG8). Unacceptable Forms of Work: Global Dialogue/Local Innovation has been uploaded to the project's website, publicised on Twitter, and sent both by email and in hard copy to the participants. As for 3 January 2019, it has been downloaded 262 times from the website and had 9,000 impressions on Twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/news/ufwreport2018/ |
| Description | UN Advisory Group of Experts on International Labour Standards on Quality Apprenticeships |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In June 2021 I was appointed to the UN Advisory Group Of Experts on International Labour Standards on Quality Apprenticeships. In this role, I provide guidance on the content of international laws that will improve the labour market prospects of young people across the world. This 'standard-setting' process will produce international laws on standards and regulatory frameworks for apprenticeships and internships. This is a major reform of international law and will be the first international standards on apprenticeships since 1962. These international treaties, to be adopted in 2023, will provide a model for the enactment and reform of laws in countries across the world. My guidance is derived from my research on working conditions and unacceptable forms of work, including the research funded by this grant. My research findings are incorporated into the legal instruments through a process of dialogue with the ILO's constituents in its 187 member States across the world - governments, employers' associations, and trade unions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
| Description | Young Scholar Sessions, Regulating for Decent Work Conference 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The PI co-organised two Young Scholar Sessions at the Regulating for Decent Work Conference (Geneva, July 2021) on 'Covid-19 Impacts on Vulnerable Workers' and 'Regulatory Institutions: Are There Lessons From the Pandemic?' The Conference - which I organise bi-annually - has had longstanding support for young scholars, in particular from DAC-list countries. The young scholars' sessions gave an opportunity to ECRs to present their research on the social, economic, and equality impacts of the pandemic to a global audience of researchers and policy-makers. Participants included young scholars from DAC list countries, India, Mexico and South Africa (ODA-relevant outcome). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/law/research/decent-work-regulation/ |
| Description | • Submission on Decent Work Regulation for the UK Visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights (5-16 November 2018) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A submission for the visit to the UK of Phillip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, highlighted the intersection of poverty and labour rightsand the need for effective labour regulation in the UK. The submission was developed by Professor Deirdre McCann and submitted. It drew on the work of the Strategic Network. The submission responded to the Special Rapporteur's interest in how poverty in the UK intersects with economic and social rights issues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/law/policyengagement/ufw/news/submission/ |