Recalling the moral dimension: Transnational labour interests and corporate social responsibilities

Abstract

The near-exclusive privileging of the rational-strategic action framework in employment relations shapes debate on the intersection of employment relations with claims for corporate social responsibilities (CSRs). Employment relations scholarship and trade unions are readily disposed to regard company claims regarding CSR as strategic market response. Prospects for widening the scope of debate come into view through further engagement with a moral turn in socio-economic scholarship and greater public salience of demand for sustainable development. This article investigates the moral dimension and its invocation by labour and management actors. It contends that moral ideations and motivations are under-recognized yet play an inherent part in employment relations. It draws particular attention to the moral dimension of transnational actors' interests and efforts in the negotiation, enactment and sustaining of Global Framework Agreements.