Abstract
Democratizing transnational supply chain governance is the central problem explored in this ambitious project. In the first of nine chapters, Reinecke and Donaghey (R&D) explain that their focus on democratic processes is motivated by a concern for human dignity and self-determination (p. 2). In transnational supply chains, work extends into developing countries where weak states have ceded regulatory authority to brands (retail and marketing corporations). Since these private regulation systems marginalize worker voice, R&D propose a new paradigm informed by industrial democracy principles (p. 17). It is in post-Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, that the authors see the potential for democratic regulation and hence the need for research. This process is especially challenging in a politically volatile and culturally unfamiliar country where data must be collected at multiple levels. The authors conducted 140 interviews and 14 group meetings with brand, union, and other officials, supplemented by observation of several official meetings (pp. 15–17 and Appendix 1). Without an explicit sampling strategy, the data permit stronger empirical analysis at the sector (garments) and host country (Bangladesh) levels than at the corporate (multi-establishment, enterprise group) and workplace (Dhaka vicinity) levels (see later).
In Chapter 2, the authors analyze the power of labor in supply chains, arguing that unlike Fordism, the supply chain model encourages precarious employment, low wages, and union avoidance. Furthermore, inefficient developing country governments prioritize inward investment over labor standards (pp. 29–30). These and other factors contribute to labor weakness, a tendency that may be offset by nongovernmental (NGO) activism and media campaigns that threaten brands’ reputational capital in Western countries. Building on this argument, Chapter 3 adds a theory of democratic governance informed by two logics. First, the logic of industrial democracy. Avoiding discussion of contending views of industrial democracy, the authors define industrial democracy as worker representation in union structures and negotiations with employers. Second, the logic of deliberative democracy is based on claims to represent workers by soliciting consumer support. However, practice may contradict theory. Unions may be outlawed, or union leaders may privilege institutional interests over their members’ interests. NGOs organizing at the national level in Western countries are remote from the workplace in developing countries and may target only a few well-known brands whose suppliers may not be the worst offenders of labor standards. R&D conclude the chapter with a two-dimensional heuristic that clarifies the characteristics of institutions like the Bangladesh Accord and workplace dialogue discussed subsequently (p. 67).
Chapter 4 highlights the significance of the garment industry to Bangladesh’s economy and its workers, including the government’s role in restricting union growth and facilitating police coercion of union leaders. The weak and divided state of Bangladeshi unions is nicely summarized followed by an examination of institutional regulation focusing on codes of conduct and social auditing (based on limited secondary sources), the Accord, including worker participation in safety committees, and a workplace social dialogue project funded by the multistakeholder, Joint Ethical Trading Initiatives (JETI). Three unmentioned, relevant industry characteristics are noteworthy: brand rationalization of suppliers and improvements in codes and auditing practices; factory ownership concentration in large, multi-establishment enterprises employing a growing proportion of workers in large factories; and the role of local NGOs acting as surrogate unions, rendering health and safety assistance, mainly to women workers.
The Accord and its extension (2015–2021) were fixed-term agreements endorsed by brands (200, mainly European corporations), two international unions and local affiliates, and NGOs (one international and one US network) aimed at significantly improving workplace safety in Bangladeshi garment-exporting firms. With brand support, expert engineers conducted factory remediation assessments, and a training program for labor–management safety committees was established. The Accord’s unique governance characteristics and substantive achievements are noted followed by an introduction to the JETI dialogue program.
Chapter 5 investigates relationships between the Accord’s participants—the brands and especially the unions (IndustriALL and UNI Global and six Bangladeshi union federations affiliated with IndustriALL) and NGOs (Clean Clothes Campaign and Workers’ Rights Consortium). Based on their complementary logics, unions and NGOs cooperated closely. NGO advocacy compensated for low union coverage, while global union relations with brands and local affiliates legitimated the unions’ negotiating role. R&D extend their analysis of union–NGO complementarity by examining differences in their bases of authorization and accountability.
US brands preferred joining the Alliance, an alternative 28-brand member organization, established soon after the Accord. Chapter 6 compares the Alliance policies, structures, and practices with the Accord. Both institutions aimed to improve workplace safety through technical upgrading and skill formation, but the Accord also attempted to build worker capacity for future problem-solving. The Accord and Alliance differed regarding governance assumptions (pluralism versus unitarism), organizational structures (union centrality versus union marginalization), and factory coverage (wide versus narrow). R&D summarize various outcomes (e.g., safety remediation and training), concluding that the Alliance resolved problems faster (but not necessarily better) and that the Accord’s effectiveness was hampered by government hostility to union-based, worker representation. Nevertheless, the Accord spurred improvements in the government’s safety inspectorate (pp. 160–61) and encouraged two new regulatory experiments, one being an international successor to the Accord (p. 141).
The authors acknowledge that the Accord’s exclusion of the politically influential Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) challenged the Accord’s democratic credentials. The politics behind this decision is lucidly explained in Chapter 7, including the BGMEA and government’s hostility to the Accord and their subsequent cooperation in establishing the Accord’s successor, the Ready-Made-Garment Sustainability Council. R&D note that union and NGO representation on the Council has been weakened, raising questions about the maintenance of high workplace safety standards.
Chapter 8 foregrounds the workplace where one might have expected an examination of management–labor relations and worker representation associated with brand initiatives in smaller owner–manager firms compared with large, professionally managed, automated workplaces owned by large, multi-establishment enterprises. Instead, R&D concentrate on four factories participating in the JETI dialogue program. Emergent tensions are carefully analyzed from a brand perspective as brands attempted to reconcile their roles as guarantors, capacity-builders, and dialogue enforcers. Because the employment relationship is based on “structured antagonism” (pp. 182–83), attendant tensions can be managed but not eliminated. Dialogue seemed to have achieved little except raise workers’ concerns about operational issues (p. 190).
In the final chapter, R&D suggest that the Accord and JETI initiatives represent embryonic forms of democratic governance featuring coalitions of new representatives (unions and NGOs), transnational codetermination and emergent workplace representation, albeit dependent on brand support (p. 199). The authors conclude that the Accord and JETI programs’ achievements are “probably as promising as any initiative focused on workers to have emerged in the transnational sphere” (p. 207). The Accord succeeded in resolving acute safety problems and experimented with limited worker representation. Arguably, enhancing worker representation and extending democratic governance will depend on broadening the coalition of progressive forces (some Western governments, brands, owners of large, multi-establishment garment enterprises, unions, and NGOs) that will encourage a new labor regulation system in which the Bangladeshi government plays a partnership rather than partisan role.
Although Stitching Governance for Labour Rights is not equally persuasive at all levels of analysis, this study makes a significant contribution to theorizing democracy in transnational supply chain governance and offers penetrating insights into institutional processes that both facilitate and resist worker representation. I strongly recommend this book to scholars, advanced students, and policymakers interested in raising international labor standards.