EPNEnvironment and Planning A: Economy and SpaceEnvironment and Planning A: Economy and Space0308-518X1472-3409SAGE PublicationsSage UK: London, England10.1177/0308518X21103330310.1177_0308518X211033303Original ArticlesSouthern actors and the governance of labour standards in global production networks: The case of South African fruit and winehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1614-7862AlfordMatthewAlliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UKVisserMargareetLabour and Enterprise Policy Research Group, Kramer Law School, Middle Campus, University of Cape Town, South AfricaBarrientosStephanieThe Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UKMatthew Alford, Room 5.059, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester, M15 6PB, UK. Email: matthew.alford@manchester.ac.uk58202153819151934© The Author(s) 20212021SAGE Publicationshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Recent studies highlight the emergence of standards, including multi-stakeholder initiatives developed and applied within the global South where supplier firms are usually based. This trend has created a complex ethical terrain whereby transnational standards flow through global production networks and intersect with domestic initiatives at places of production. The paper complements global production network analysis with the concepts of ‘space of flows’ and ‘space of places’ and insights from relational economic geography, to examine how some multi-stakeholder initiatives in the global South can shape the broader governance of labour standards in global production networks. The following questions are addressed: How is the governance of labour standards in global production networks shaped by dynamic spatial interactions between actors? What role have diverse Southern multi-stakeholder initiatives played in influencing the governance of South African fruit and wine? We draw on research conducted over seven years into two standards in South Africa, the Wine and Agriculture Ethical Trade Association and Sustainability Initiative of South Africa. Our analysis shows that these two Southern-based multi-stakeholder initiatives contributed to shaping the broader governance of labour standards through dynamic non-linear waves of interaction over time, involving both collaborative and contested exchanges between actors across space of flows and places. We further argue that despite the development of multi-stakeholder initiatives by Southern actors, commercial power asymmetries in global production networks limit their ability to promote significant improvements for producers and workers.

Global production networksstandardsSouth Africawinefruittypesetterts19