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 data in this report represents signals and cases from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018 and is accurate as of July 25, 2019. Cases of trafficking may be ongoing or new information may revealed to the National Hotline over time. Consequen...Read More
This joint report aims to gather and share the lessons learnt through the implementation of CARE and TACT projects, which objectives are to enhance the safe and sustainable return and reintegration process of returning victims of trafficking. The re...Read More
Abstract This short paper tends to shed light and reflect on the way forward for companies to address labour exploitation in their agricultural supply chain. For that, it will first refer to some of the cases reported in Spain and Italy to then br...Read More
By Robin Broad, John Cavanagh, Catherine Coumans, and Rico La Vina The authors of this report—researchers from the United States, Canada, and the Philippines—have studied OceanaGold’s operations in the Philippines and other countries. The have...Read More
2025 © Copyright, RESPECT International. All Rights Reserved. Website Disclaimer | Privacy Policy
