"Worker organising can counter labour abuse in the Global South", 8 January 2020

...[N]ew [transparency] laws... have limited provisions for compliance and enforcement... [and] neglect... large parts of the global workforce... [in] the Global South... [while] consumer boycotts... have caused some companies to suddenly withdraw their manufacturing contracts... leaving workers [unemployed]...

Only workers whose conditions are highlighted by their proximity to privileged consumer markets are understood by such approaches as exploited labourers... In Myanmar, the EU is considering removing trade preferences in light of human rights abuses... which could... [impact] hundreds of thousands of migrant women working in the garment industry.

These... approaches... have shifted global attention to focus almost exclusively on the abuse that happens in export-oriented sectors... overlook[ing] the systemic exploitation that occurs among service sector workers... [in] industries... [which] employ mostly women who face global inequality, poverty, lack of labour protection and criminalisation during migration and work...

Worker-led efforts... shift the focus to the ideas, needs and collective action of the workers themselves. Establishing more equitable channels of negotiation between workers and employers - including the global brands who buy from them - would grant a voice to workers to define the most pressing problems and the most appropriate solutions...