Worker-driven monitoring –Redefining supply chain monitoring to improve labour rights in global supply chains

In this article, we advance on ongoing debates about how global supply chain monitoring can work to improve conditions for workers in those supply chains. We propose an approach to worker-driven monitoring and introduce a set of core elements that should form the basis of this new approach to monitoring labour conditions in global supply chains. We argue that supply chain workers’ participation in labour monitoring systems cannot be confined to the moment of factory inspection. Instead it must be understood as part of a larger process which incorporates workers from the point of designing the systems that will be monitored through to the point of remediation. We conclude that such a systematic and comprehensive approach is necessary to ensure that monitoring processes are meaningful and place the rights of workers at their core.