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International Journal of Political Science and Development |
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International Journal of Political Science and Development Vol. 1(2), pp. 32–41, October, 2013 DOI: 10.14662/IJPSD2013.010. ISSN: 2360-784X©2013 Academic Research Journals Review Governing Mechanisms for Controlling Labour: The case of the Ready-Made Garments Industry in Bangladesh
Kazi Mahmudur Rahman
School of Political Science and
International Studies (POLSIS), University of Queensland, St Lucia,
QLD 4067, Building 39A (General Purpose North), level 5. E-mail:
kazi.rahman@uqconnect.edu.au
Dominant discourse of
trade led development justifies the treatment of workers by
subordinating their needs to the overarching imperatives of
development. The official transcript of Ready-Made Garments (RMG)
trade induced development is interpreted as progress, while for
workers it is associated with the decline in the quality of life and
as forms of suffering and even as enslavements. Based on a field
survey on workers, in-depth interview on factory owners and
observation, this article also provides an account of the political
power relations underpinning the “worker/employer” constellation in
the RMG sector in Bangladesh by investigating the formal and
proto-formal arrangements/provisions. Since labour power is a
critical input into RMG Industry (RGI), this article also identified
the various modes of labour control in the RGI in Bangladesh. The
analysis also shows the efforts in legitimizing those controlling
practices. The core of this paper is an exposition of the governance
mechanisms through how the new international division of labour (NIDL)
wassustained despite the worker’s struggles. At the end, it
envisages to expose the gap between stated governance objectives and
governance as experienced.
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