Under the regime of private company or multi-stakeholder voluntary codes of conduct and industry social auditing, workers have absorbed low wages and unsafe and abusive conditions; labour leaders and union members have become the targets of both government and factory harassment and violence; and trade union power has waned. Nowhere have these private systems of codes and audits so clearly failed to protect workers as in Bangladesh’s apparel industry. However, international labour groups and Bangladeshi unions have succeeded in mounting a challenge to voluntarism in the global economy, persuading more than 180 companies to make a binding and enforceable commitment to workers’ safety in an agreement with 12 unions.
The extent to which this Bangladesh Accord will be able to influence the entrenched global regime of voluntary codes and weak trade unions remains an open question. But if the Accord can make progress in Bangladesh, it can help to inspire similar efforts in other countries and in other industries.
Discussion about mandatory human rights due diligence (HRDD) for corporations is currently on the political agenda of at least 12 European Union member states as well as EU institutions. The EU Commission has announced an HRDD law and the European P...Read More
This report analyses the labour conditions of migrant workers in the EU in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. By looking at the prevalence of temporary contracts, the position in the income distribution and the likelihood that jobs can be conduct...Read More
By Anna Triponel and John Sherman Introduction On the evening of 23 March 2017, just as the deadline for a decision was approaching, the French Constitutional Court declaredthat the French law on the duty of vigilance (or duty of care) owed by pare...Read More
This report warns that global progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years. The number of children aged 5 to 17 years in hazardous work – defined as work that is likely to harm their health, safety or morals – has rise...Read More
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