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Changing Governance System for Labour: Germany’s Garment Supply Chains

This paper examines whether the Rana Plaza disaster of 2013 has changed the approach by which German garment retailers govern their supply chains, especially with regard to labour standards issues. We analyse institutional developments and firm-level initiatives that have resulted as a response to the Rana Plaza disaster and the heightened public attention that German garment retailers have received regarding labour standards. Our analysis is based on interviews with large German garment brands and retailers as well as representatives from multi-stakeholder initiatives, Union, and NGOs and on information available in public statements by institutional initiatives and industry statistics. On the institutional level, we find that massive political attempts to regulate labour standards in global supply chains have been initiated and describe theses with regard to their aims as well as the actors involved. On the firm level, we observe a more multi-layered process, with some firms being themselves proactive regarding labour standards issues and others engaging more reluctantly in new initiatives and practices. We describe these patterns in detail and discuss them in light of the wider German institutional infrastructure in which lead firms are embedded. We contribute to a better understanding of the German garment retail sector, in particular institutional and firm-level approaches governing labour standards in global garment supply chains in light of this country’s political economy.

Scope: 27 pages
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