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Voice, Prevention, Remedy: Key Elements in a Global Supply Chain Convention (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)

James Brudney

10 Mar 2025

Borrowing from Albert Hirschman’s classic work, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, focused on deteriorating performance in economic organizations, this Article explores the interplay among three key elements of a proposed International Convention on Global Supply Chains (GSCs). In doing so, it suggests that Hirschman’s model may not have adequately appreciated the distinctive role of power in the labor setting— in particular the power that frms possess over the job security and conditions of workers. The Article emphasizes the importance of “Voice” as applied to the precarious labor relationships that characterize transnational supply chains. The structure of these relationships makes Exit unlikely and Loyalty less relevant. Relatedly, conditions in GSCs invite, if not demand, creation of institutions that can effectively communicate worker complaints.

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Joseph Crowley Chair in Labor and Employment Law, Fordham Law School