Many countries observe Labour Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, on the 1 May to celebrate the contributions and rights of workers. Yet in many sectors and societies, these cornerstones of social justice face new challenges against a complex backdrop of opaque global supply chains and rapid technological changes. For many, key labour rights have yet to be won at all. From extreme worker exploitation and the vast scale of modern slavery to increasingly agile post-pandemic workforces, our researchers are addressing the urgent global issues facing labour standards today. 

Exploitation and abuse in the Bangladeshi clothing industry 

Dr Shoaib Ahmed, Lecturer in Accounting, and Dr Adnan Fakir, Lecturer in Economics, are each bringing to bear the distinct perspectives of their fields on conditions in the Bangladeshi clothing industry. 

Ahmed’s research into workplace bullying and control was initially motivated by personal experience of living in the local area in Bangladesh impacted by the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster. The collapse of the garment factory that killed nearly 1,200 workers and injured around 2,500 spurred his concern with accounting for abusive and coercive practices in the industry. His studies highlight how this behaviour in the factories is driven by the fast-fashion model supported by retailers in Western countries. 

Fakir has meanwhile highlighted the declining employment and wages of female clothing workers in Bangladesh following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the industry. His research indicated that about 10% of female workers were pushed into unemployment in the first half of 2020, and about 130,000 remained out of work in 2023. 

The findings of both projects have directly fed into reports published by the United Nations Human Rights Office and the World Bank respectively. 

Tackling modern slavery in business and management  

Modern slavery affected an estimated 50 million people worldwide in 2021 with many impacted by a range of deceptive and coercive management practices from wage theft to physical violence. Dr Mike Rogerson, Department of Management, and Professor Robert Caruana, Department of Strategy and Marketing, are pushing the boundaries of business and management research into this area and its possible policy and organisational solutions.  

Rogerson’s work with procurement professionals in the UK’s public sector highlights the role of supply chain risk management in tackling the problem. His work also explores the links between the escalating climate crisis and the number of people being pushed into forced migration and modern slavery as a result. 

Caruana’s interrogation of the concept of modern slavery itself has exposed limitations in current business and management studies. For example, he emphasises the need to understand how modern slavery fundamentally operates through the distortion of conventional management practices.  

Both researchers are co-hosting ‘Alternative paths: the Business and Modern Slavery Research Conference 2024’ at the University later this year. The call for papers is open. 

Managing agile workforces in the NHS  

Dr Emma Russell, Reader in Occupational and Organisational Psychology, leads the agiLab which has been commissioned by the NHS to explore the challenges and tensions of agile working. For example, since the Covid-19 lockdowns, there have been reported tensions between clinical and non-clinical staff around their disparate agile working arrangements. agiLab’s research has fed into recommendations by NHS Employers for accommodating the diverse needs and circumstances of the health service’s workforce including those of low-income workers.  

Learn more about the research in our ‘Spotlight on the Workplace' in the latest Research Review.