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Workplace Bullying and Intensification of Labour Controls in the Clothing Supply Chain: Post-Rana Plaza Disaster

Author

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  • Md Shoaib Ahmed

    (University of Essex, UK)

  • Shahzad Uddin

    (University of Essex, UK)

Abstract

This article examines workplace bullying and the intensification of labour controls in the clothing supply chain. It appears that extreme forms of bullying are deployed to intensify labour controls, including locking workers in, frequent wage cuts, setting moveable targets and carrying out intense observations. The context of this study is surplus value-starved clothing factories in Bangladesh. Global supply chains’ production regimes and the absence of state protections and trade unions enable factory managers to systematically deploy bullying tactics to achieve production targets. Drawing on Burawoy’s works, this article advances the debate of how workplace bullying is impacted by wider structural conditions with managerial strategies of coercion in factories. It is argued here that when the state intervenes in the factory only to protect and preserve capitalists’ interests, explicitly and implicitly, coercive strategies of control turn into extreme bullying on the shopfloor.

Suggested Citation

  • Md Shoaib Ahmed & Shahzad Uddin, 2022. "Workplace Bullying and Intensification of Labour Controls in the Clothing Supply Chain: Post-Rana Plaza Disaster," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(3), pages 539-556, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:36:y:2022:i:3:p:539-556
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170211038205
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Helge Hoel & David Beale, 2006. "Workplace Bullying, Psychological Perspectives and Industrial Relations: Towards a Contextualized and Interdisciplinary Approach," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(2), pages 239-262, June.
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    3. Javed Siddiqui & Shahzad Uddin, 2016. "Human rights disasters, corporate accountability and the state," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 679-704, May.
    4. Nikolaus Hammer & Réka Plugor, 2019. "Disconnecting Labour? The Labour Process in the UK Fast Fashion Value Chain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(6), pages 913-928, December.
    5. Michael Harvey & Darren Treadway & Joyce Heames & Allison Duke, 2009. "Bullying in the 21st Century Global Organization: An Ethical Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(1), pages 27-40, March.
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