Legal sanction, international organisations and the Bangladesh Accord

We use recent research and two 2018 arbitration cases to argue that the 2013 Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety represents a regulatory model that is in principle worthy of extension to other countries and sectors. .It has achieved considerable membership from purchasing multinationals and other stakeholders, and has successfully secured major improvements to building safety. It implicitly challenges arguments in favour of non- legally supported approaches. We argue that its legal basis is the crucial underlying component of its success and has in significant respects been strengthened in its revised 2018 iteration. In view of the weakness of local worker voice, the involvement of the Global Union Federations (GUFs), acting in collaboration with NGOs, was significant in securing the benefits achieved. Such an alliance appears a necessary condition for the model’s extension.

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Industrial Law Journal following peer review. The version of record Richard Croucher, Mark Houssart, Lilian Miles, Philip James, Legal Sanction, International Organisations and the Bangladesh Accord, Industrial Law Journal,, Volume 48, Issue 4, December 2019, Pages 549–570, is available online at: URL: https://academic.oup.com/ilj/article-abstract/48/4/549/5427453?redir... and DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwz003