Migrant Labour Standards and Human Rights of Multinational Companies’ Supply Chains : Reshaping a Playing Field in China: Part I

It is imperative to ensure effective protection of migrant labour rights in the emerging global market. This is the first part of a two-part article discussing labour standards in China. Although some private rule-making institutions have increased their governance role in a cross-border regulatory scenario, a more viable governance regime is still arguably perceived as a national rather than a global phenomenon. Given the ineffective enforcement of labour standards in China, some authoritative standards, like the United Nations Tri-Pillar Framework, hold the keys to an emerging internationally recognized regime for global labour governance. It remains a challenge to strike a balance between hard law and soft law, so as to ensure multinational companies’ (MNCs’) profit maximization and the protection of human rights. With an examination of counter-conventional approaches to legal pluralism and globalized supply chains, it is proposed that more multipronged forms of governance may incentivize foreign MNCs to improve labour practices across various governance levels. MNCs will need to operate beyond merely abiding by Chinese law, and contribute more by self-regulation along with other stakeholders in the implementation of human rights standards