Herausgeber_in: Garment Supply Chain Governance Discussion Paper Series No. 01/2019

Autor_innen: Kabeer, Naila; Huq, Lopita; Munshi, Sulaiman

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, Bangladesch, CSR, Gewerkschaft, Lieferkette, Sicherheit, Unternehmensverantwortung

Kurzbeschreibung:

The collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh in April, 2013 resulting in the death and injury of more than 2000 workers from the country’s export garment industry was one of the worst industrial disasters in recorded history. The tragedy galvanized a range of stakeholders to take action to prevent future disasters. Prominent in these efforts were two multi-stakeholder agreements which brought together lead buyers, trade unions and NGOs in a concerted effort to improve health and safety conditions in the industry. These initiatives represent a move away from the buyer-driven compliance-based model that continues to dominate CSR to what is being described as a ‘cooperation-based’ model, which brings   together   multiple   stakeholders   who   affect,   and   are   affected,   by   the   business operations of lead multinational corporations (MNCs) in global value chains. This paper is concerned with the experiences and perceptions of workers with regard to these new initiatives. It examines competing interpretations of stakeholder analysis within the CSR literature and uses these to frame its key research question: has the shift from compliance to co-operation as the basis of CSR been a promising way forward or merely a shift in rhetoric? We use a survey of garment workers to explore the extent to which these initiatives have brought about improvements in wages and working conditions in the garment industry, where progress has been slowest and why.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2019

Umfang: 70 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: erschienen in ILR Review, Volume: 72, Issue: 3, pages 552-579

Autor_innen: Schuessler, Elke; Frenkel, Stephen J.; Wright, Chris F.

Schlagwörter: Bangladesch, Fabrikunglück, Sicherheit, Unternehmensverantwortung

Kurzbeschreibung: This article analyzes the impact of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse on garment lead firms’ labor standards policies in the light of new governance approaches, particularly the pathbreaking Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. Based on a sample of 20 Australian and German garment firms, the authors find that firms with low prior baseline standards revised their supply chain and sourcing policies and signed the Accord. Firms with medium and high baseline standards responded variously, from making no changes to revising their policies and signing the Accord. Firm response variation can be explained by stakeholder pressure occurring in different national industrial and institutional contexts following the Rana Plaza incident, which served as a focusing event. Results suggest the wider applicability of the focusing event framework for industrial relations scholarship and highlight some of the mechanisms driving changes in industrial relations institutions.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2019

Umfang: 27 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_innen: The London School of Economics and Political Science, Brac University, University of Gothenburg, UNSW Australia, Freie Universität Berlin, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz: Garment Supply Chain Governance Project Final Report

Autor_innen: Schüßler, E., Frenkel, S., Ashwin, S., Kabeer, N., Egels-Zandén, N., Alexander, R., Huq, L., Oka, C., Lohmeyer, N., Rahman, S. & Rahman, K. M.

Schlagwörter: Asien, Bangladesch, Sicherheit, Unternehmensverantwortung

Kurzbeschreibung:

The April 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, which killed over 1,000 garment workers and injured many more, shocked the world. Since then, lead firms, supplier factories, governments and multiple other stakeholders have sought to improve building safety in Bangladesh and to strengthen the governance of labour standards in garment supply chains. This report summarizes the results of the Garment Supply Chain Governance Project, which provides the most thorough analysis of lead firms’ current practices and their impact on garment factories and workers in the context of various public and private labour governance initiatives to date.

Since the Rana Plaza disaster, buyer-supplier relations, lead firm labour governance approaches and worker outcomes in Bangladeshi garment factories have changed. These changes can be attributed to an intensified climate for compliance regarding primarily building safety, but also other aspects of working conditions. While it is difficult to tease out precisely the causal impact of each initiative implemented in Bangladesh since Rana Plaza, our data indicate that this climate of compliance and the resulting changes can be strongly associated to lead firms’ engagement in the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (Accord).

Erscheinungsjahr: 2019

Umfang: 44 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_innen: Clean Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Labour Education Foundation, National Trade Union Federation, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research

Schlagwörter: Asien, Fabrikunglück, Pakistan, Sicherheit

Kurzbeschreibung:

On the seventh anniversary of the Ali Enterprises disaster, garment workers in Pakistan still risk their lives in unsafe factories. This report released in September 2019 called for a worker-led labour-brand safety accord in Pakistan, based upon the lessons learned by the Bangladesh Accord.

This report reviews current risks and violations in Pakistan’s textile and garment factories and assesses several current initiatives in the industry that include safety aspects, analysing their commitments and performance. The report concludes with the recommendation that brands and retailers sourcing clothing and textiles from Pakistan heed calls from Pakistan’s labour movement to support the formation of a legally-binding agreement between apparel brands and local and global unions and labour rights groups to make workplaces safe.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2019

Umfang: 40 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_innen: International Labour Office; Global Labour University; Working Paper No. 38

Ggf Autor_innen: Mohd Raisul Islam Khan, Christa Wichterich

Schlagwörter: Asien, Bangladesch, Fabrikunglück, Gewerkschaft, Sicherheit, Unternehmensverantwortung

Kurzbeschreibung:

GLU | Safety and Labour Conditions: Implementation of the Accord and the NTPA III ABSTRACT The factory fire at Tazreen Fashions in 2012 and the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013 generated a huge outcry about the working conditions and labour relations in the Readymade Garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh, and led to the adoption of the multi-stakeholder agreements Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (Accord) at the international level and the National Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA) at the domestic level. This paper investigates how the Accord and the NTPA have been implemented in the first two years after their adoption, whether they have contributed to an overall improvement in safety and labour conditions as well as to organizing in the RMG sector, and whether they can be considered as a “major breakthrough” and “game changer”.

The empirical research highlights the scope and limitations of the coverage of the two agreements. The findings indicate that after an initially good take-off, the activities lost pace and intensity and the remediation came almost to a standstill. The main assumption of the analysis of the Accord and NTPA implementation is that this process, its pace, results and constraints are consequences of the underlying power structures of the transnational apparel chains and the actual imbalance of power among the stakeholders. 

Erscheinungsjahr: 2015

Umfang: 61 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_in: Fair Wear Foundation

Schlagwörter:  Arbeitsbedingungen, Europa, Osteuropa und Türkei, Sicherheit

Kurzbeschreibung:

The textile industry is one of Macedonia’s most developed economic sectors, and there are over 600 companies actively involved at various levels of production, employing over 40,000 workers and producing over €450 million worth of exports. Textiles contribute to about 12.45% of the industrial GDP (2.4% of Macedonia’s GDP), and represented 12.4% of country exports in 2016. The Macedonian textile industry, however, represents less than 1% of global textile exports worldwide.

Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) has been active in Macedonia since 2004. According to the latest FWF annual report, ten FWF member companies were sourcing from 21 Macedonian suppliers. FWF audits show some general areas of concern, of which the first is documentation. Records are often not kept properly, making it both difficult to assess if workers receive the benefits to which they are entitled, and how many hours they actually worked. A second, much larger problem concerns health and safety. Factory audits often uncover problems with fire safety, ranging from faulty or absent fire detection systems to a lack of fire safety training.

FWF will continue to provide updated information on Macedonia on its website and will update this country study on a periodic basis in the future. 

Erscheinungsjahr: 2017

Umfang: 63 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Herausgeber_innen: SÜDWIND e.V. – Institut für Ökonomie und Ökumene, Bonn; INKOTA-netzwerk, Berlin; Globalization Monitor, Hongkong
Autor_innen: Pieper, Anton
Redaktion: Grigentin-Krämer, Sandra; Mauz, Katharina

Basierend auf der gleichnamigen Studie

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen, Arbeitszeiten, Asien, Chemikalien, China, Europa, Existenzlohn, Frauenrechte, Gesetzgebung, Gewerkschaft, Kinderarbeit, Leder, Lieferkette, Schadstoffe, Schuhe, Sicherheit, Umwelt, Unternehmensverantwortung, Welthandel

Kurzbeschreibung: Niedrige Löhne, unfreiwillige Überstunden, mangelnder Schutz vor Gesundheits- und Sicherheitsrisiken – diese Missstände sind in der Wertschöpfungskette von Schuhen weit verbreitet.
Das Fact-Sheet fasst eine Studie zusammen, die die Arbeitsbedingungen in chinesischen Zulieferbetrieben untersucht hat, die für europäische Markenunternehmen produzieren.
Auf der Grundlage einer Befragung von Beschäftigten in drei Schuhfabriken in der chinesischen Provinz Guangdong, die vom SÜDWIND-Partner Globalization Monitor Ende 2015 durchgeführt wurde, entsteht ein alarmierendes Bild der Schuhproduktion in China, wo es nicht selten zum Einsatz von staatlicher Gewalt kommt, um Streiks für bessere Arbeitsbedingungen zu unterdrücken.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2016

Umfang: 4 Seiten

Sprache: Deutsch

Zielgruppe: Student_innen, Schüler_innen Sek I/II, Berufsschule, Erwachsene

Medien: Hintergrundinformationen

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download beim Südwind-Institut.
Die zu Grunde liegende Studie.

Herausgeber_innen: International Labor Rights Forum; Worker Rights Consortium; Clean Clothes Campagin; Maquila Solidarity Network

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen, Asien, Bangladesch, Fabrikunglück, Lieferkette, Sicherheit, Unternehmensverantwortung

Kurzbeschreibung:
Three and a half years after the catastrophic Rana Plaza building collapse, major apparel brands and retailers that are part of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety – including Gap Inc., Target, VF Corporation, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), and Walmart1 – are failing to fulfill their commitments to make their supplier factories safe, leaving hundreds of thousands workers at risk. Rather than hold member companies accountable, the Alliance is concealing their lack of action by refusing to publish detailed information on factory progress and by reporting some factories as “On Track” on safety renovations when, in fact, they have failed to implement key renovations by mandated deadlines.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2016

Umfang: 11 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Zielgruppe: Student_innen, Erwachsene

Medien: Hintergrundinformationen

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download bei laborrights.

Herausgeber_innen: SÜDWIND e.V. – Institut für Ökonomie und Ökumene, Bonn; INKOTA-netzwerk, Berlin; Society for Labour and Development, New Delhi
Autor_innen: Pieper, Anton; Kant Prasa, Shashi; Raaj, Vaibhav
Redaktion: Bhattacharjee, Anannya; Deter, Melanie; Geldermann, Anna; Grigentin-Krämer, Sandra; Schumacher, Vera
Das Fact-Sheet basiert auf der gleichnamigen Studie

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen, Asien, Chemikalien, Europa, Existenzlohn, Gesetzgebung, Gewerkschaft, Indien, Leder, Lieferkette, Lohn, Menschenrechtsverletzungen, Schadstoffe, Schuhe, Sicherheit, Umwelt, Unternehmensverantwortung, Welthandel

Kurzbeschreibung:
Löhne weit unter dem Existenzniveau, gravierende Mängel in Sachen Gesundheitsschutz und Sicherheit sowie Diskriminierung und Ausbeutung aufgrund traditioneller Geschlechter- und Kastennormen - die Arbeitsbedingungen in der indischen Schuh- und Lederproduktion sind katastrophal. Das belegt die neue Studie der Kampagne Change Your Shoes, die SÜDWIND und INKOTA veröffentlicht haben. Die Organisationen fordern Markenunternehmen weltweit dazu auf, Profite nicht weiterhin auf Kosten der ArbeiterInnen zu erzielen. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt dabei auf Europa.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2016

Umfang: 4 Seiten; außerdem ist die 40-seitige zu Grunde liegende Studie unter gleichem Titel erschienen

Sprache: Deutsch

Zielgruppe: Student_innen, Schüler_innen Sek I/II, Berufsschule, Erwachsene

Medien: Hintergrundinformationen

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download beim Südwind-Institut.
Die gleichnamige Studie dazu.

Herausgeber_in: Framtiden i vare hender (Future In Our Handx, Oslo
Autor_innen: Preston, Joel (CENTRAL); Leffler, Carin (Future In Our Hands)

Schlagwörter: Arbeitsbedingungen, Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen, Arbeitszeiten, Asien, Existenzlohn, Frauenrechte, Gewerkschaft, Kambodscha, Lieferkette, lohn, Menschenrechtsverletzungen, Sicherheit, Sozial-Audits, Unternehmensverantwortung

Kurzbeschreibung:
As with many other garment producing countries exporting to the European and American market, Cambodia has been in the spotlight because of its poor working conditions and low wages for apparel workers. The country’s garment sector engages some 750000 workers in more than 1000 factories.
The report is based on interviews with garment workers in 4 H&M supplier factories in Cambodia in February and March 2016. The factories are rated by H&M as gold and platinum suppliers. Several violations were identified in each of the factories. The H&M platinum suppliers, Eastex, Vanco and Seduno, were presumed to perform better than the selected gold supplier, M&V. However, general working conditions at the platinum suppliers were actually worse than the gold rated supplier M&V.

Erscheinungsjahr: 2016

Umfang: 52 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Zielgruppe: Student_innen, Erwachsene

Medien: Hintergrundinformationen

Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download bei der CleanClothesCampaign.