ABSTRACT

The Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) is a third-party certification program seeking to improve agricultural working conditions as well as food safety practices, environmental stewardship, and farm viability. The initiative uses innovative cross-functional labor-management teams to promote compliance with EFI standards and advocate for worker interests. Based on focus groups, interviews, and observations at five EFI-certified operations in the U.S. and Mexico, we describe how farms implemented the participatory system and the degree of involvement and influence the teams achieved. We elucidate how organizational dynamics generally associated with concertive control instead contributed to logics of collective advocacy. Theoretical implications address debates about (a) worker participation and empowerment, (b) corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate accountability, and third-party auditing, and (c) positive deviance and critical praxis. Practical insights can guide EFI operations and other worker-driven accountability systems.

摘要

公平食品计划（EFI）是一项第三方认证计划，旨在改善农业工作条件以及食品安全实践，环境管理和农场生存能力。该计划使用创新的跨职能劳动管理团队来促进对EFI标准的遵守并倡导工人利益。基于焦点小组，访谈和在美国和墨西哥的五个EFI认证运营的观察，我们描述了农场如何实施参与式系统以及参与程度和对团队的影响。我们阐明了通常与协调控制相关的组织动力如何促进了集体倡导的逻辑。理论意义涉及以下方面的辩论：（a）工人的参与和赋权；（b）企业社会责任（CSR）；公司问责制和第三方审计，以及（c）积极的偏差和严格的实践。实用的见识可以指导EFI运营和其他工作人员驱动的问责制。