Conference Agenda

Over the last decade, there have been major attempts to radically reshape the structure of labour law in several South Asian jurisdictions. The objective has been to consolidate and modernize the fragmented, inconsistent and often obsolete laws which reflect the area’s British colonial legacy. For example, India has enacted new labour codes and Pakistan’s provinces are also debating draft labour codes. In both cases, the International Labour Organization has urged that the new codes reflect its fundamental Conventions.

Systematic reform has, however, proved difficult. The challenges include: increasing the scope of the laws beyond the small fraction of workers they currently cover; improving consistency of the substantive provisions, and, creating more robust methods of implementation, especially given the relatively low number of inspectors and delays within the formal dispute resolution systems.This presentation focuses on the first of these challenges.

The presentation reflects the experience of three labour law scholars who have been extensively involved with the reform process in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the capacity of international advisors. Our core research question is: how does the legal terminology which continues to be deployed in these systems contribute to a narrow and partial vision of labour law, one that can be implemented only in segments of the labour market? We move beyond the generalised observations previous commentators have made about the limited scope of laws to a specific analysis of legal texts and judgements, pinpointing problems in concepts such as "worker", "employee", "establishment" and "industry". We ground our discussion in the literature of comparative labour law and labour law and development.

Our discussion focuses on occupational safety and health (OSH), but highlights the connections with other areas of labour law. The OSH focus is productive since in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, we can see both the legacy of narrow concepts and some emerging possibilities for broadening out those concepts, for example, transcending the fixation on direct employer-employee relations as the determinant of scope. Our suggestions for reform do not entail using Western countries as unrealistic benchmarks. Rather, we point to other countries in the Global South, especially in East and Southeast Asia which have already succeeded in broadening the law's scope.

Our analysis has implications not only for South Asia, but for many other former British colonies in the Global South that seek to recraft their labour laws to be more comprehensive in light of their domestic circumstances.

Failure to pay wages, compulsory overtime, usurious recruitment fees, and gender-based violence and harassment are rampant practices in the global garment and textile industries. Further, indicators of forced labour, such as bonded labour, restriction of movement, withholding wages and excessive overtime, and work compelled under threat of physical violence are present in supply chains for cotton, textile, and garment industries. Growing awareness of these issues and of the perceived failure of national labour laws and company-based corporate social responsibility initiatives to address forced labour have led to the introduction of modern slavery disclosure laws. Canada’s recently introduced Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act builds on similar legislation in place in California, the UK, and Australia. Companies must publish annual reports that outline what steps, if any, they have taken to address and prevent forced labour in their supply chains. The assumption behind these laws is that requiring companies to report on their efforts to eradicate forced labour will increase transparency, and as corporate practices become more visible to consumers, stakeholders, and the broader public, companies will be under increased pressure to address forced labour in their supply chains. Does this assumption have merit? Do disclosure or transparency laws create incentives for large companies to develop policies and change their business practices to minimise the risk of forced labour in their supply chains? We begin to answer these questions through a case study of one leading Canadian retailer and apparel company with global reach - Lululemon Athletica. The paper maps changes in Lululemon’s policies and practices pertaining to the elimination of risks of forced labour alongside the introduction of new reporting requirements. Our research draws attention to the importance of government action to address forced labour and notes some seemingly positive outcomes of these laws. However, we also show that the focus on reporting in current legislation is not adequate: supply chain legislation should focus on preventing and remedying harm, not just on disclosure. We conclude by calling on corporations to take further action to address labour exploitation in their global supply chains and to report on the impact of such actions. We advocate for the Global Labor Institute’s output indictors developed by Sarosh Kuruvilla and Jason Judd as one important way to get data about suppliers’ treatment of their workers – data that would provide quantitative assessment of risks and outcomes in terms of forced labour.

In 1995, the Mobile Inspection Special Group (GEFM) was established to combat contemporary slave labor in Brazil. However, thirty years later, this practice remains a harsh reality in the country, despite legislative advancements and institutional actions. In 2023 alone, more than 3,240 workers were rescued from such conditions. This crime directly violates human dignity and requires a more robust and effective state response.

In this context, inspections conducted primarily by the Ministry of Labor and Employment and the Labor Prosecutor's Office play a crucial role in repressing these practices. Nevertheless, the challenge remains to ensure that, during and after inspections, existing legal norms translate into effective protection for workers. This research aims to address two key questions: What factors determine the effectiveness of actions to combat slave labor and human trafficking in Brazil today? What institutional and operational gaps hinder the effectiveness of labor regulation in these contexts?

The research adopts a mixed-methods approach (quantitative and qualitative), involving a review of the relevant literature and an analysis of reports from members of the Labor Prosecutor's Office and, potentially, other institutional partners participating in task forces conducted in the post-pandemic period (2022-2024). Data collection will include document analysis of the mobile group’s action outcomes, followed by the application of standardized questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with those involved in the operations. The study will also consider the application of new artificial intelligence tools, where applicable, in the planning and execution of inspections.

Currently in the documentary review phase, this study expands the debate on the effectiveness of labor regulation in contexts of severe rights violations by analyzing how institutional factors, such as the coordination between different agencies and the quality of inspection instruments, influence the outcomes of enforcement actions. Thus, it contributes to public policy by proposing evidence-based recommendations for improving inspections.

The study aims to identify factors that influence the effectiveness of inspection actions, such as documentation standards, criteria for recognizing slave labor, and the causes of inspection failures. Practical recommendations will be provided to enhance the effectiveness of institutional actions, including proposals for improving regulations and leveraging technology for monitoring and planning actions. These insights will contribute to more efficient inspections and inspire the development of more robust regulatory models that are sensitive to social and economic vulnerability contexts.