Soziales Upgrading und industrielle Beziehungen im Globalen Süden

Discussion on the effects of integration in global value chains for workers in the Global South commonly oscillates between references to posi­tive employment effects on the one hand and low wages and violations of labour standards on the other. This article presents a comparative analysis of four industries and six emerging and developing economies to examine the necessary conditions for social upgrading. In particular, the authors focus on the influence of different national systems of industrial relations. It is shown that economic upgrading alone (as in the case of China) has only a limited effect on social upgrading if it is not coupled with independent collective representation of workers’ interests. On the other hand, it is shown that in countries with strong democratic trade unions, substantial successes in collective bargaining have been made at the sectoral level. However, it is also observed that social downgrading has occurred in industries where, as in the Vietnamese and Indian garment industries, there has been neither economic upgrading nor the establishment of recognised trade union representation structures.