From Compliance to Leverage
Mandatory human rights due diligence regulations (mHRDD) are widely seen as a step-change in the governance of global value chains (GVCs). Yet evidence from South African wine suggests that their transformative potential lies less in strengthening compliance than in whether they can be mobilised by workers and their allies as a source of leverage. Without this, mHRDD risks reinforcing the same procedural approaches that have long struggled to improve labour conditions.
This brief, based on the author’s recent scholarly journal article in the Journal of Economic Geography, draws on evidence from the South African wine industry to show that due diligence regulation can be leveraged to improve working conditions and shift the power balance between workers and employers. Methodologically, the study draws on multi-phase qualitative research, combining sector-level analysis of due diligence regulations with over 40 interviews with firm, industry, government, and civil society actors.