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 global spread of COVID-19 has prompted unprecedented measures to contain the virus, including the temporary shutdown of business and widespread restrictions on movement. Around the world, travel plans and workplaces have been disrupted and work ...Read More
Investigations by Equidem between September 2020 and October 2022 documented significant labour and human rights violations at all eight FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums—Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail, Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Al Janoub Stad...Read More
Issara Institute recognizes worker voice as conveying the voices, experiences, and needs of workers, and channeling that voice into clear mechanisms committed to remediation and a rebalancing of power asymmetries between employers and workers. This ...Read More
Prostitution is a multi-faceted phenomenon: victims of exploitation and networks, housewives in precarious situations, female students, children, men...who prostitute themselves in the streets, on the Web, in bars, in massage parlors, along the road...Read More
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