Upgrading in Automotive Global Production Networks: Workers’ Power in South Africa
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Abstract
The introduction of the concept of social upgrading was a welcome development in the study of Global Production Networks (gpns). We argue that although social upgrading is primarily a result of labour agency rather than automatically trickling down from economic upgrading, without economic upgrading social upgrading will not be sustainable. We show how it was through the use of their structural power, the development of associational power through building a national industrial union, the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa, and institutional and societal power, that workers realised social upgrading improvements in the automobile industry in South Africa. The rights consolidated in legislation and the institutions established were the result of workers using their power in strategic ways. We argue for an alternative approach to social upgrading that foregrounds workers power as a crucial determinant of social upgrading. This, we conclude, will require a labour-led development path.
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Upgrading in Automotive Global Production Networks: Workers’ Power in South Africa
In: Journal of Labor and SocietySearch for other papers by Alex M. Mashilo in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Edward Webster in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The introduction of the concept of social upgrading was a welcome development in the study of Global Production Networks (gpns). We argue that although social upgrading is primarily a result of labour agency rather than automatically trickling down from economic upgrading, without economic upgrading social upgrading will not be sustainable. We show how it was through the use of their structural power, the development of associational power through building a national industrial union, the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa, and institutional and societal power, that workers realised social upgrading improvements in the automobile industry in South Africa. The rights consolidated in legislation and the institutions established were the result of workers using their power in strategic ways. We argue for an alternative approach to social upgrading that foregrounds workers power as a crucial determinant of social upgrading. This, we conclude, will require a labour-led development path.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1847 | 555 | 38 |
| Full Text Views | 44 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 64 | 12 | 1 |