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.
The Addendum complements the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings adopted in 2003 and supplemented in 2005, and provides the OSCE participating States with an updated toolkit to combat all forms of trafficking in human beings (THB)....Read More
This briefing forms part of a broader five session series of webinars standing to tackle contemporary issues impacting modern slavery in supply chains, calling for candid discussion and pragmatic solutions. Workers themselves know better than any...Read More
Migration is not a new phenomenon in India. People have moved across the length and breadth of the country for various reasons, including work. Today, India has a burgeoning urban population, which contributes to about 63% of India’s GDP. A large ...Read More
This year’s World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends provides a comprehensive assessment of current decent work deficits and how these have been exacerbated by multiple, overlapping crises in recent years. It analyses global patterns, regional ...Read More
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