Paper short abstract:

The Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013 gave rise to multi-stakeholder initiatives, moving away from buyer-driven codes of conduct. This paper asks if these initiatives have improved conditions, how improvements overlap with workers' priorities, and where and why has progress been slowest.

Paper long abstract:

The collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh in 2013, resulting in the deaths of 1133 factory workers and injuring 1800, has been described as 'the worst industrial disaster in recorded history'. The tragedy galvanized a range of stakeholders, including the lead buyers, to renew their efforts to promote health and safety in Bangladesh's export garment industry. 190 lead retailers and brands from 20 mainly European countries together with transnational and local unions signed the legally binding Accord for Fire and Building Safety. A counterpart, non-legally binding agreement, the Alliance agreement, was signed by 26 mainly US lead firms. These initiatives represent a move away from the buyer-driven compliance-based model that continues to dominate CSR, to a 'cooperation-based' model which brings together multiple stakeholders who affect, and are affected by, the business operations of lead MNCs in global value chains.

This paper is concerned with the experiences and perceptions of workers with regard to these new initiatives. It examines some of the different ways in which CSR has been conceptualized - and the extent to which these address worker interests. This provides us with the main questions which our empirical analysis will address: to what extent have these new initiatives brought about improvements; to what extent do these improvements overlap with workers' priorities; and where has progress been slowest or absent? The paper is part of a larger multi-country project which, along with workers' viewpoints, also explores the perspectives of other key stakeholders, including lead buyers and Bangladeshi suppliers.