When joining the Global Deal, Fair Wear Foundation committed to identifying the obstacles to social dialogue in the global supply chains of the garment industry.

To that end, Fair Wear Foundation commissioned a study on the state of social dialogue in ten major garment-producing countries: Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Published in 2021, the study identifies barriers to efficient social dialogue: resistance to freedom of association and collective bargaining, a hesitancy on the part of  workers to engage in dialogue with management, and fragmentation of trade unions. Despite these obstacles, the paper illustrates through several case studies that effective social dialogue can be established and draws lessons on how to facilitate social dialogue in garment supply chains.