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.
Arise supported an incisive report into the Polish response to Ukrainian war refugees. The research analyses the responses of central government, regional authorities, civil society organisations, and households. It tracks the circumstances, experie...Read More
The exercise was done with some social workers from the field to understand their thoughts, feelings and unexpressed emotions using visual imagery. Sometimes verbalizing the internal emotional experience during a stressful period becomes difficult. ...Read More
This report from 2005 researches the weaknesses of social auditing. Social audits to check working conditions in production facilities emerged in the mid-1990s after a number of high profile companies were widely scrutinized for substandard working ...Read More
The report emphasizes the importance of meaningful survivor engagement. Collaborating with survivors in all aspects of anti-trafficking efforts, including the development of practices, policies, and strategies – and prioritizing survivor leadershi...Read More
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