What is motivating the Government of Bangladesh to recognise, register, & respect trade unions? And change the labour law, so all workers can organise collectively to push for better conditions, rights, and pay?

1) Commercial pressure from global buyers

2) Threats of trade sanctions from the EU

3) Voters (domestic political pressures)

4) None of the above.

Dr. Jennifer Bair (Associate Professor, University of Virginia) explains why labour repression remains pervasive in Bangladesh. Notwithstanding the horrors of Rana Plaza, there is little incentive for the Government to tolerate trade unions. Instead they ban trade unions in export processing zones. This is part of their economic strategy, to keep costs low, and remain globally competitive.

So what might encourage change?

Stronger commercial pressure for reform, suggests Dr. Bair.

Interested? You can learn more about Dr. Bair's work here: https://sociology.virginia.edu/content/jennifer-bair

Research discussed in the podcast:

Jennifer Bair, "Labor Administration and Inspection in Post-Rana Plaza Bangladesh" in International Labor Rights Case Law

https://brill.com/view/journals/ilrc/3/3/article-p457_457.xml

Jennifer Bair and others, "Forcing change from the outside? The role of trade-labour linkages in transforming Vietnam's labour regime" in Competition & Change https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1024529417729326

Mark Anner, "Squeezing workers’ rights in global supply chains: purchasing practices in the Bangladesh garment export sector in comparative perspective" in Review of International Political Economy: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692290.2019.1625426?journalCode=rrip20#.XRUS7W6rCKs.twitter

Ungated working paper: https://ler.la.psu.edu/gwr/documents/CGWR2017ResearchReportBindingPower.pdf

John S. Ahlquist and Layna Mosley, "Firm Participation in Voluntary Regulatory Initiatives: the Accord, Alliance, and US garment importers from Bangladesh"

http://laynamosley.web.unc.edu/files/2018/04/Ahlquist-Mosley-2018.pdf

Alice Evans (me!), "Export Incentives & Domestic Activists" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331864175_Export_Incentives_Domestic_Activists