New MBS Centre develops Warwick links
Juliane Reinecke (front row, left), Jimmy Donaghey, Warwick; Greg Bamber (back row, left), Peter Holland, Julie Wolfram Cox, Julian Teicher, Brian Cooper, all Monash.
Monash Business School welcomed University of Warwick Professors Juliane Reinecke and Jimmy Donaghey, who is also an Adjunct at Monash, to present at the Australian Consortium for Research in Employment and Work (ACREW), part of Monash Business School’s new Centre for Global Business.
The visiting Professors from Warwick Business School’s Industrial Relations Research Unit presented at an ACREW seminar and also discussed collaboration opportunities with Monash staff.
“They are both rising stars in the renowned Industrial Relations Research Unit and had constructive discussions with staff about developing more research collaboration under the auspices of the Monash Warwick Alliance,” said Professor Julie Wolfram-Cox, Management Department Head, Monash Business School.
As part of the ACREW seminar, Professors Reinecke and Donaghey, reported on recent British Academy funded research on initiatives to improve labour standards in Bangladeshi garment factories, following the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed more than 1000 workers.
“Reinecke and Donaghey gave an excellent seminar at ACREW,” said Professor
Professor Greg Bamber, ACREW seminar convener.
The presentation included an outline of the Accord for Building and Fire Safety, a legally binding agreement between more than 180 western brands and two Global Union Federations, an experimental form of governance that differs significantly from most collective agreements, which are between employers and unions, rather than brands at the end of the supply chain.
Also highlighted were the complex challenges of raising labour standards in the Bangladesh ready-made garment sector due to the high number of western buying brands, the large number of factories producing in the sector, weak infrastructure and political issues.
The first part of Reinecke and Donaghey’s research investigating the emergence of the Accord and the role of coalitional power between unions and social movements will be published in leading international journal, Organization.