Table Of ContentLabor, Global Supply Chains, and
the Garment Industry in South Asia
This book argues that larger flaws in the global supply chain must first
be addressed to change the way business is conducted to prevent factory
owners from taking deadly risks to meet clients’ demands in the garment
industry in Bangladesh.
Using the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster as a departure point, and to prevent
such tragedies from occurring in the future, this book presents an interdis-
ciplinary analysis to address the disaster which resulted in a radical change
in the functioning of the garment industry. The chapters present i nnovative
ways of thinking about solutions that go beyond third-party monitoring.
They open up possibilities for a renewed engagement of international
brands and buyers within the garment sector, a focus on direct worker
empowerment using technology, the role of community-based movements,
developing a model of change through enforceable contracts combined with
workers movements, and a more productive and influential role for both
factory owners and the government. This book makes key interventions
and rethinks the approaches that have been taken until now and proposes
suggestions for the way forward. It engages with international brands, the
private sector, and civil society to strategize about the future of the industry
and for those who depend on it for their livelihood.
A much-needed review and evaluation of the many initiatives that have
been set up in Bangladesh in the wake of Rana Plaza, this book is a val-
uable addition to academics in the fields of development studies, gender
and women’s studies, human rights, poverty and practice, political science,
economics, sociology, anthropology, and South Asian studies.
Sanchita Banerjee Saxena is the Executive Director of the Institute for South
Asia Studies and the Director of the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center
for Bangladesh Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
127 Contemporary Literature from Northeast India
Deathworlds, Terror and Survival
Amit R. Baishya
128 Land-Water Management and Sustainability in Bangladesh
Indigenous practices in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Ranjan Datta
129 Dalits, Subalternity and Social Change in India
Edited by Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K. Pandey
130 Identity and Marginality in India
Settlement Experience of Afghan Migrants
Anwesha Ghosh
131 Political Transformations in Nepal
Dalit Inequality and Social Justice
Mom Bishwakarma
132 Fertility, Health and Reproductive Politics
Re-imagining Rights in India
Maya Unnithan
133 Labor, Global Supply Chains, and the Garment
Industry in South Asia
Bangladesh After Rana Plaza
Edited by Sanchita Banerjee Saxena
For the full list of titles in the series please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Contemporary-South-Asia-Series/book-series/RCSA.
Labor, Global Supply Chains,
and the Garment Industry in
South Asia
Bangladesh After Rana Plaza
Edited by
Sanchita Banerjee Saxena
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Sanchita Banerjee Saxena;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Sanchita Banerjee Saxena to be identified as the author
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-36680-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-43003-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
For my father, who showed me what truly matters
Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables xi
List of contributors xiii
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xix
List of abbreviations xxi
1 Introduction: how do we understand the Rana Plaza disaster
and what needs to be done to prevent future tragedies 1
SANCHITA BANERJEE SAXENA
PART I
Leading to the disaster 19
2 The longue durée and the promise of export-led development:
readymade garment manufacturing in Bangladesh 21
SHELLEY FELDMAN AND JAkIR HOSSAIN
3 Off the radar: subcontracting in Bangladesh’s RMG industry 45
SANCHITA BANERJEE SAXENA AND DOROTHEE BAUMANN-PAULY
PART II
Dealing with the aftermath 63
4 Opportunities and limitations of the Accord: need for a worker
organizing model 65
CHAUMTOLI HUq
5 Does third-party monitoring improve labor rights? The case of
Cambodia 84
kRISTY WARD
viii Contents
6 Spaces of exception: national interest and the labor of sedition 100
DINA M. SIDDIqI
PART III
Rethinking solutions in Bangladesh 115
7 Bangladesh’s private sector: beyond tragedies and challenges 117
RUBANA HUq
8 Post-Rana Plaza responses: changing role of the Bangladeshi
government 131
SHAHIDUR RAHMAN
9 Behaviour of the buyers and suppliers in the post-Rana Plaza
period: a decent work perspective 149
kHONDAkER GOLAM MOAzzEM
PART IV
Rethinking solutions: from an international perspective 173
10 Can place-based network contracting foster decent work in
informal segments of global garment chains? Lessons from
Mewat, India 175
MEENU TEWARI
11 Emerging solutions to the global labor transparency problem 192
kOHL GILL AND AYUSH kHANNA
12 Fast fashion, production targets, and gender-based violence in
Asian garment supply chains 207
SHIkHA SILLIMAN BHATTACHARJEE
PART V
A way forward 229
13 The evolving politics of labor standards in Bangladesh:
taking stock and looking forward 231
NAILA kABEER
Index 261
List of figures
8.1 Government programs since Rana Plaza disaster 138
9.1 Distribution of RMG enterprises (%) 151
9.2 Distribution of employment in RMG enterprises (%) 151
9.3 Contractual relationship between suppliers and buyers (%) 152
9.4 Size-wise problems per factory 153
9.5 Year-wise problems according to establishment year 154
9.6 Progress status of electrical problems in first and
second reviews 156
9.7 Progress status of fire problems in first and second reviews 156
9.8 Progress status of structural problems in first and
second reviews 157
9.9 Distribution of workers according to their academic
qualifications 160
11.1 Stakeholders in a typical apparel supply chain 196
11.2 Proposed theory of change 200
