Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights

Chapter 9

Can codes of conduct helphome-based workers?

Lucy Brill

Homeworkers’ organizations identify two major areas of concern about codes of conduct. First, the problems with ‘codes on paper’ – the fact that up until very recently, the vast majority of codes make no mention of home-based workers or other informal sector workers, despite the accumulating evidence that they are producing goods which are marketed by transnational companies (TNCs), and are thus participating within global subcontracting chains. Second, there are difficulties with ‘codes in practice’. Here the situation is complex, there are some signs that companies can respond ...