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.
Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on those most vulnerable to forced labour and human trafficking. Around the world, communities already suffering from poverty and exploitation have borne the brunt of the pandemic and its economic fallout. Th...Read More
Thousands of children affected by modern slavery are being failed by the system. There are at least 5,000 children of modern slavery victims in the UK and the majority are not getting the support they need, with many more potentially lost in the ...Read More
Written by Sheldon X. Zhang, Ph.D., Principal Investigator. A study examining San Diego County's population of migrant farmworkers who have been trafficked. This study examines the types of trafficking experienced and the condition faced by...Read More
Child labour has long been a feature of economic life in the Arab region, particularly in agriculture, small traditional craft shops, and informal industries such as garment and carpet making, as well as some construction-related activities. Childre...Read More
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