From Rana Plaza to COVID‐19: Deficiencies and opportunities for a new labour governance system in garment global supply chains

Abstract

for useful comments in developing this article. They gratefully acknowledge funding by the Volkswagen Foundation for the research project "Changes in the governance of garment global production networks: Lead firm, supplier, and institutional responses to the Rana Plaza disaster" under the Europe and Global Challenges programme. They thank all project team members for their contribution in collecting the data on which this article is based, and Jaco Fourie and Maria George for their excellent research assistance.Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

Dissensus and Deadlock in the Evolution of Labour Governance: Global Supply Chains and the International Labour Organization (ILO)

“…For example—whilst the power of unions has been declining globally (Visser, 2019 ), employers’ and TNCs’ power has been rising (Weil, 2014 ), and global governance institutions have become weaker and more fragmented (Levy, 2021 , p. 565)—the Rana Plaza disaster established a commonality of purpose and a provisional hegemony between the Workers, the Office and a majority of member States (Thomas & Turnbull, 2018 ). This supports research on how Rana Plaza became a “focusing event” that provided activists with considerable leverage over buyers (Frenkel & Schuessler, 2021 ) and led to the establishment of the Bangladesh Accord (Reinecke & Donaghey, 2021 ). However, as our case demonstrates, there is a ‘shelf-life’ to external jolts that (provisionally) shift power dynamics.…”

“…Research on labour governance in GSCs has focused mainly on emergence, design or legitimation of institutions (Bartley, 2022 , p. 189), typically as a result of external events (Arenas et al, 2020 , p. 173; Frenkel & Schuessler, 2021 ). Deliberative democracy in particular has been identified as an important feature of the design of labour governance mechanisms that seek to go beyond the ineffectiveness of unilateral, voluntary codes of conduct through involving TNCs, the state and civil society (Scherer & Palazzo, 2007 ; Soundararajan et al, 2019 ).…”

After Rana Plaza: Governing Exploitative Workplace Labour Regimes in Bangladeshi Garment Export Factories

“…Regarding policy, LGS reform and factory upgrading should be priorities, particularly since the replacement of the Accord and Alliance in June, 2020 by a tripartite non-profit organisation whose commitment to regulation remains controversial. Reform should aim to strengthen stakeholder cooperation and LGS coordination (Frenkel and Schuessler, 2021). Labour law enforcement and eliminating the worst forms of worker exploitation should be prioritized.…”

Analysis of the Textile and Clothing Industry Global Value Chains

“…The decade has also been defined by increasing ethical and environmental concerns for how clothing is produced. The 2013 disaster in Rana Plaza, Bangladesh highlighted the precarious conditions under which global apparel workers were operating and contributed to a rise in social auditing of producers (Frenkel & Schuessler, 2021). Programs such as International Labor Organisation's (ILO)-International Finance Corporation (IFC) Better Work, which provides trade support and capacity building in the sector to improve labor conditions rapidly gained momentum (Better Work, 2021), and as did international accords such as the Bangladesh Accord which bring together both employers in large MNCs and global labor representatives (Alamgir & Banerjee, 2018;Amengual, Distelhorst, & Tobin, 2019;Bair, Anner, & Blasi, 2020;Hadwiger, 2015).1F 2 It has also led to brands reevaluating where they produce their apparel; some firms, such as market leader PVH (#8)2F, 3…”