Community campaigns, supply chains, and protecting the health and well-being of workers.

Abstract

The growth of contingent work (also known as precarious employment), the informal sector, and business practices that diffuse employer responsibility for worker health and safety (such as outsourcing and the development of extended national and international contracting networks [supply chains]) pose a serious threat to occupational health and safety that disproportionately affects low-wage, ethnic minority, and immigrant workers. Drawing on cases from the United States and Australia, we examine the role that community-based campaigns can play in meeting these challenges, including several successful campaigns that incorporate supply chain regulation.