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Squeezing workers’ rights in global supply chains: purchasing practices in the Bangladesh garment export sector in comparative perspective

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  • Mark Anner

Abstract

Workers’ rights violations have been pervasive in many global supply chains. In the apparel sector, production workers often face precarious working conditions, including persistently low pay, excessive and often forced overtime, unsafe buildings, and repression of their right to form unions and bargain collectively. This article explores how purchasing practices of lead firms adversely affect working conditions and workers’ rights in supplier factories. It attributes these trends to a price squeeze and a sourcing squeeze in which lead firms pay increasing lower prices to suppliers while also imposing short lead times and high order volatility. To test this argument, trade data of apparel imports to the United States and the European Union are explored. The article then turns to original surveys of Bangladesh supplier factories and workers carried out in 2016 and 2017. The final section of this paper examines the impact of the squeeze on working conditions and workers’ rights using the Labour Rights Indicators.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Anner, 2020. "Squeezing workers’ rights in global supply chains: purchasing practices in the Bangladesh garment export sector in comparative perspective," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 320-347, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:27:y:2020:i:2:p:320-347
    DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2019.1625426
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    Cited by:

    1. Oya, Carlos & Schaefer, Florian, 2021. "The politics of labour relations in global production networks: Collective action, industrial parks, and local conflict in the Ethiopian apparel sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Anner, Mark, 2021. "Preisdruck in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten und seine Auswirkungen auf Gewalt und Belästigung am Arbeitsplatz," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 74(1), pages 28-36.
    3. Hyunji KWON & Sun Wook CHUNG & Joonkoo LEE, 2021. "South Korean first‐tier suppliers in apparel global value chains: Upgrading and labour implications in the Asian context," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(4), pages 553-569, December.
    4. Jensen, Federico & Whitfield, Lindsay, 2022. "Leveraging participation in apparel global supply chains through green industrialization strategies: Implications for low-income countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    5. Telaye Fikadu MULUBIRAN & Asbjørn KARLSEN, 2023. "The role of local stakeholders in transforming economic upgrading into social upgrading in Ethiopian textile and garment firms," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(1), pages 45-67, March.
    6. Fahmida Mostafiz & Jianqiang Sun, 2023. "Policy Series Effects on Bangladesh Readymade Garments Exportation," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 133-143.
    7. Vivek Soundararajan, 2023. "The dark side of the cascading compliance model in global value chains," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(1), pages 209-218, March.
    8. Marslev, Kristoffer & Staritz, Cornelia & Raj‐Reichert, Gale, 2022. "Rethinking Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Worker Power, State‒Labour Relations and Intersectionality," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 827-859.
    9. Jenny COLLINS & Julian S. YATES, 2023. "Leveraging transparency to shift capital‐labour relations in garment sector production: A critical analysis of the design and structure of the Bangladesh Accord," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(4), pages 641-664, December.
    10. Aleksandra Draganić & Nazmul Arefin, 2021. "Social Sustainability Challenges and the Role of Middle Managers: Case of the Ready-Made Garment Industryin Bangladesh," ICDD Working Papers 28, University of Kassel, Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften (Social Sciences), Internatioanl Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD).
    11. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md. Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2022. "The Paradoxical Impacts of the Minimum Wage Implementation on Ready-made Garment (RMG) Workers: A Qualitative Study," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(2), pages 545-569, June.
    12. Jean‐Christophe Graz & Jimena Sobrino Piazza & André Walter, 2022. "Labour Standards in Global Production Networks: Assessing Transnational Private Regulation and Workers’ Capacity to Act," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 912-937, July.
    13. Huw Thomas & Mark Anner, 2023. "Dissensus and Deadlock in the Evolution of Labour Governance: Global Supply Chains and the International Labour Organization (ILO)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 33-49, April.
    14. Imranul Hoque & Peter Hasle & Miguel Malek Maalouf, 2022. "Buyer–Supplier Role in Improving Ergonomics in Garment Supplier Factories: Empirical Evidence from the Garment Industry of Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, January.
    15. Sarosh Kuruvilla & Chunyun Li, 2021. "Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining in Global Supply Chains: A Research Agenda," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 43-57, April.
    16. Mark ANNER, 2021. "Three labour governance mechanisms for addressing decent work deficits in global value chains," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(4), pages 611-629, December.
    17. Mark ANNER, 2022. "Power relations in global supply chains and the unequal distribution of costs during crises: Abandoning garment suppliers and workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 161(1), pages 59-82, March.
    18. Kristoffer Marslev & Cornelia Staritz & Gale Raj‐Reichert, 2022. "Rethinking Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Worker Power, State‒Labour Relations and Intersectionality," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 827-859, July.

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