Operationalising Labour Rights: Access to Remedy at the Workplace

Operationalising Labour Rights: Access to Remedy at the Workplace.
As economies grow and capital expands, conditions of employment for those who labour to create wealth remain poor in many industries and locations around the world. This is particularly the case in sectors such as the international garment sector, where the dispersion of labour intensive production along opaque value chains allows conditions at the workplace to be obscured from scrutiny. It is at this level that workers with low associational and structural power struggle to exert representational rights and defend their interests, while the lack of transparency within the global production network facilitates the perpetuation of abusive practices, the worst of which are all too often exposed by tragedy and loss of life, rather than audit. It is in this context that this research project seeks to illuminate local conditions against the backdrop of national and international forms of private and public regulation which fail in the absence of robust mechanisms of enforcement.

The research will involve the systematic collection of data on workplace grievances and their outcomes from garment workers employed in factories in the city of Bangalore, south India. Our research partner is a well-established civil-society organisation, Cividep-India (Cividep). A small amount of data on workplace grievances has already been collated in a short pilot study in 2016. In the present research project, we will compile a further, far more comprehensive bank of data on the nature and outcomes of workplace grievances. The collection of data will take place over a period of twenty-four months and will involve establishing communication with factory workers (away from the workplace), organising worker forums, and establishing a range of engagement activities, facilitated by local field workers, through Cividep, as a precursor to data collection from respondents. Cividep will manage and monitor the fieldwork and data input in India and will also engage and manage our group of fieldworkers who will all be former garment workers and are experienced in the conditions that prevail in the sector. The gender composition of fieldwork teams will reflect the gendered nature of factory workforces locally, which is generally around 80% female.

The data on workplace grievances, their progress and outcomes will act as a foundation for a detailed understanding of the dynamics of workplace relations. Accordingly, the data will support us in theorising:
1. To what extent access to remedy is possible for the individual worker at the level of the workplace, and by what means.
2. To what extent it is possible to operationalise labour rights, including freedom of association, through dispute resolution at the level of the workplace.

In addition to contributing to theory and knowledge of labour's place in global value chains and affording insight into the efficacy of social auditing and statutory regulation in academic debate, the project's requirements of systematic data collection and analysis holds potential for capacity building in the field. It will further develop and hone research skills necessary to advocacy and the delivery of impact with diverse audiences of academia, practitioners and policy makers. It will also provide data affording greater transparency in workplace relations and evidence to support lobbying for meaningful mechanisms of access to remedy at the workplace. The objectives of this study are therefore to provide a deeper theoretical understanding of the challenges involved in operationalising labour rights at the workplace at the base of a feminised labour-intensive supply chain, while also developing skills and capacity in local civil society, supporting its advocacy role and thereby strengthening its transnational relationships and status.

We plan to target four key beneficiary groups:

The Research Community
Findings from this research project will make a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of workplace relations, organisation and access to remedy in labour-intensive, industrial production in buyer-driven value chains in DAC countries. We will contribute presentations and papers to ongoing seminar series, conferences and our own end of project dissemination event. The unique nature of the data will result in the publication of high quality papers in high impact journals. Access to our data will provide a valuable resource for researchers across a variety of disciplines and stimulate further investigation and the development of new collaborations. Engagement with the academic community will also be supported by academic members of our steering group.

Workers and the General Public
Ultimately, the research programme aims to improve our understanding of the concrete realities of workplace relations prevailing at the base of the global supply chain and to support the efficacy with which access to remedy can be pursued by workers at the local level, in the interests of increased transparency, the operationalisation of employment rights and the improvement of working conditions. The local Indian research team will engage directly with workers in Bangalore via meetings held outside workplaces, social meetings held at workers' centres, worker forums and street theatre events. Experience of such activities in other settings suggest that the knowledge imparted about employment rights will, over time, raise levels of consciousness among workers and spill over into the wider community. In the UK, the research team has a track record of public engagement and will be active in events that inform the wider general public by speaking at public events in the UK about working practices in the garment sector labour-intensive value chains in DAC countries.

Impact on Civil Society
The programme of research will provide a basis of formally recorded evidence which may be used as a foundation for advocacy by civil society in India and in the UK in support of workers in DAC countries. It will provide evidence of how access to remedy is facilitated or blocked at the workplace and thereby support the strategizing of new approaches and interventions aimed at promoting independent worker organisation and forms of representation at the workplace. We will build upon and benefit from existing civil society partnerships, such as that with Cividep in India, and with Labour Behind the Label, Homeworkers Worldwide and Anti-Slavery International in the UK, and will look to develop new partnerships with other key actors in this area through associated networks. Emerging findings will be actively promoted to these groups via our series of Blog posts and Research Notes.

Policy Makers
Issues surrounding fair work are of increasing prominence within the policy community (e.g. the formation of the Fair Work Board in Wales and the Fair Work Convention in Scotland). Procurement strategies are of significance in these endeavours and the research team will engage actively with policy makers to ensure that they able to access the research findings and can consider how they can influence policy development.

Our impact strategy will be finalised during the inception phase. A project inception workshop will take place in Bangalore hosted by Cividep to ensure that the project is engaging fully with stakeholders in India, providing the opportunity for them to contribute to the research design. Our steering group will also include representation from academics, policy makers, practitioners and civil society organisations. All of these activities will be supported by a strong social media presence supported by dedicated communications staff based at WISERD.