Wages and Working Hours in the Textiles, Clothing,
Leather and Footwear Industries
The need for binding international laws
Australia has world-leading regulation to regulate the supply chain and prevent labour rights abuses workers in the garment industry. These standards did not come overnight; they are the result of numerous reports and inquiries into abuses of garment workers and campaigning over 20 years by the Textile, Clothing & Footwear union, the FairWear campaign and others. Yet there are few binding human rights obligations applying to transnational corporations.
The labour and human rights abuses occurring in Bangladesh illustrate a lack of state response (from Bangladesh, Australian and other governments) to labour and human rights abuses at the transnational level and an inability to regulate business practices. The absence of agreed enforceable standards mean that the only option for non-state actors, such as NGOs and unions, is to take their claims against corporations to the court of public opinion.