Collective arrangements in the Bangladeshi garment industry

摘要(不超过500字)孟加拉经济严重依赖服装业。它雇佣了400多万名工人，服装出口约占总出口的84%(BetterWork，2020)。在2013年灾难性的拉纳广场倒塌事件(Kabel，Huq&Sulaiman，2019年)之后，孟加拉国受到了越来越多的媒体关注。在造成1000多人死亡的灾难之后，投资于一系列集体安排，作为私人自愿行为守则的替代办法，以促进提高劳动标准。这些集体安排的范围从行业主导的倡议、牵头公司和其他利益攸关方之间的协议，到牵头公司和工会之间的安排，并采取不同的方法。然而，自集体安排出现以来，劳工标准改进的影响有限(Kabel等人，2020年；Schubler等人，2019年；Anner，2018年)。尽管集体安排具有克服集体行动问题的独特潜力，但批评者认为，由于合作努力的方法和性质的局限性，合作努力的“实验”已经失败(Ashwin，2019；Locke等人，2009；MSI Integrity，2020；Cora，2020)。新冠肺炎再次强调，迫切需要找到改善集体努力的方法，以促进服装行业更好、更具弹性的劳工标准。几位作者呼吁更好地了解孟加拉国的集体安排组合(MSI Integrity，2020；Kuruvila，2020；Schubler等人，2019年)。这项研究旨在通过发现如何改进集体安排的方法，以及如何促进集体安排之间的合作，以更有效地提高孟加拉国制衣工人的劳动标准，从而加深对这一认识的理解，并向利益攸关方提供相关建议。研究将采用混合方法，包括对来自四个相关利益攸关方团体的代表进行半结构化访谈，并对一家“最佳案例”工厂进行案例研究，这将增加分析的深度。

Summary (no more than 500 words) The Bangladeshi economy is heavily reliant on the garment industry. It employs more than four million workers and garment exports account for about 84% of total export (BetterWork, 2020). Bangladesh has received increased media attention after the disastrous Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 (Kabeer, Huq & Sulaiman, 2019). The disaster that caused over 1000 deaths was followed by the investment in a range of collective arrangements as an alternative to private, voluntary Code of Conducts (COCs) to promote improvements in labour standards. These collective arrangements range from industry-led initiatives, agreements between lead firms and other stakeholders, to arrangements between lead firms and unions and take different approaches. However, there is limited reported impact of improvements in labour standards since the emergence of collective arrangements (Kabeer et al., 2020; SchuBler et al., 2019; Anner, 2018). Despite the unique potential of collective arrangements to overcome the collective action problem, critiques argue that the "experiment" of collaborative efforts has failed, given limitations in their approach and nature (Ashwin, 2019; Locke et al., 2009; MSI Integrity, 2020; CorA, 2020). COVID-19 has once again highlighted the urgent need to find ways to improve collective efforts to promote better and more resilient labour standards in the garment industry. Several authors have called for a better understanding of the portfolio of collective arrangements in Bangladesh (MSI Integrity, 2020; Kuruvilla, 2020; SchuBler et al., 2019). This research aims to add to this understanding and provide relevant recommendations to stakeholders by discovering how approaches of collective arrangements can be improved and how collaboration between collective arrangements can be fostered to more effectively improve labour standards of garment workers in Bangladesh. The research will consist of a mixed method approach, including semi-structured interviews with representatives from four relevant stakeholder groups and a case-study of a "best-case" factory, that will add depth to the analysis.