TY - CONF T1 - Transnational Labor Alliances and Why Corporations Concede: Lessons from Southeast Asia T2 - International Studies Association Annual Convention Y1 - 2015 A1 - Brookes, Marissa KW - Southeast Asia KW - TLAs KW - transnational activism KW - transnational advocacy networks KW - transnational corporations KW - transnational labor alliances AB -


This paper analyzes the dynamics of transnational labor alliances (TLAs), which entail active cooperation by workers from two or more different countries aimed at altering the behavior of a transnational corporation. Unlike transnational advocacy networks (TANs), TLAs are motivated mainly by material goals and do not seek to involve the state in their conflicts with corporations. Consequently, TLAs do not follow the boomerang model (Keck and Sikkink 1998) of transnational activism. Existing theories of transnational activism are therefore inadequate for explaining the recent success of TLAs in improving working conditions and labor rights across a variety of firms around the world. This paper thus develops a theory of success and failure in TLAs by investigating the mechanisms through which TLA campaigns do or do not have an impact on corporate practices. Using original interview data and process-tracing methods of causal analysis, I compare two highly similar TLA campaigns centered on labor disputes at foreign-owned luxury hotels in Indonesia and Cambodia. I find that the Indonesia-based TLA failed while the Cambodia-based TLA succeeded because the latter directly threatened the target corporation’s core, material interests, while the former did not. The evidence suggests that while TLAs share some characteristics in common with TANs, the mechanism through which transnational activists compel a target actor to change its behavior differs in TLA campaigns.

JA - International Studies Association Annual Convention CY - New Orleans, LA L2 - eng UR - http://web.isanet.org/Web/Conferences/GSCIS%20Singapore%202015/Archive/c594f3e0-32f8-460d-b135-042b5265163a.pdf ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Minimum Wage Levels Across Southeast Asia: Trends and Issues JF - International Area Studies Review Y1 - 2014 A1 - Hee-Ryang Ra KW - economics KW - economy KW - minimum wage KW - Southeast Asia AB -

This study examines the minimum wage system of major Southeast Asian countries and the trends and issues of minimum wages across Southeast Asian countries. In addition, a minimum wage determining model is set up with regard to macroeconomic variables, and the minimum wage determining mechanism is analyzed based on the estimation. By comparing the actual minimum wage growth and expected one in the years of 2012 and 2013, the difference is discussed in this regard. We examine the causes of minimum wage increase as well. The rapid increase in minimum wages in many Southeast Asian countries, indeed, is different from the existing change patterns. In particular, the difference between the actual minimum wage growth and expected one in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam is outstandingly higher than the previous averages. Such a rapid minimum wage increase indicates the greater effect of political and non-economic factors than that of conventional economic deciding variables.

VL - 17 L2 - eng CP - 3 ER -