- Title
- Silence or violence: A paradoxical perspective on employee voice in the Bangladeshi readymade garment industry
- Creator
- Ara, Mst Jesmin
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Women in the Bangladeshi Readymade Garment (RMG) industry are internationally renowned for the brands they make and the exploitation they suffer at the hands of their factory owners, international buyers, and government indifference. The conditions under which these women work is a form of modern slavery (Boersma & Nolan, 2022). Paradoxically, Bangladesh has lifted itself out of dire poverty on the back of these women’s labour. Among these workers, the common form of Employee Voice (EV) is silence, occasionally interrupted with violent strikes. The concept of EV, is a Western concept, embedded in trade unions, legal structures, and the social norms of more affluent nations. Despite this, and in the absence of more relevant concepts, EV remains relevant in the context of developing nations where voices are unheard and so especially deserving of attention (Wilkinson et al., 2018). The emerging literature on EV in developing countries is predominantly descriptive with limited reach in terms of types of research participants and perspectives. In the context of the Bangladesh RMG Industry, the aim of this thesis is to examine EV on the factory floor to better understand its manifestations and the interests of stakeholders in either sustaining or changing working conditions. The research questions are: how and why EV is manifested in relation to wages and conditions of work; how the various stakeholders labour policy and practice; and how labour practices differ between export and domestic factories. The questions are addressed through an exploratory multi-case study research design based on three RMG factories: one export-oriented, one domestic-oriented, and one that sub-contracts to export factories. A total of 45 interviews were held with workers, their supervisors, and managers in addition to a further six interviews with Trade Union and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) representatives, plus a senior member of the Department of Labour. analysing the data. Thematic content analysis, overlaid with Paradox Theory, was used to analyse the data around working conditions and perspectives. The findings confirm previous research, with the noted exception of Frenkel et al. (2022) based on data from factory managers, that, despite established regulatory frameworks complying with International Labour guidelines, such rules are regularly ignored, and international buyers’ auditing practices are corrupt. Living in poverty, being illiterate, and having few, if any, other survival options, the women live in fear of expressing voice. The honesty with which all participants discuss working conditions, cruelty and breaking rules is a major Silence or violence: A paradoxical perspective on Employee Voice in the Bangladeshi Readymade Garment Industrycontribution. The analysis exposes four paradoxical tensions inherent in the relationships among workers, factory owners, government, global brands and their buyers, trade unions, and NGOs in the RMG industry. First, government privileges economic over labour conditions and its own laws. Second, the global buyers demonstrate ‘wilful ignorance’ in stating their compliance with labour regulation while turning a blind eye to the factory floor realities and continuing to drive down contract prices and hence wages and conditions. Third, because of trade union relationships with government, NGOs tend to play the roles usually accorded to trade unions. Finally, despite poorer wages and conditions, workers in the domestic factories experience less exploitation and have stronger access to informal forms of voice compared to their counterparts in the export orientated factories where the most violent forms for voice arise. The contributions of the thesis are as follows: expanding knowledge of EV and the relevance or otherwise of Western frameworks in developing countries; access to the range of participants is unique as is their candour; and the use of paradox theory to explore contradictory relationships among stakeholders in global supply chains. From a policy perspective, the thesis highlights the critical role of government in being the ultimate arbiter of labour conditions in its own country.
- Subject
- employee voice; Bangladeshi Readymade Garment industry; global supply chain buyers; voice and silence; paradox theory; trade unions; violence
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1510422
- Identifier
- uon:56400
- Rights
- Copyright 2024 Mst Jesmin Ara
- Language
- eng
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