Invisible Hands: Understanding the Working Conditions and Agency of Apparel Waste-Handling Workers in Bangladesh as Part of the Global Apparel Production Network

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15173/glj.v17i2.6927

Abstract

Existing research on global apparel production networks (GPNs) has focused almost exclusively on the formal sectors of such networks when discussing labour conditions and workers’ agency. Despite being part of the same network, informal post-production apparel waste-handling sectors and their workers remain largely invisible in academic discussions. Drawing on insights from the literature on GPNs and global recycling networks (GRNs), this article develops an analytical approach that connects informal apparel waste work and workers to the formal apparel industry. Using qualitative data, it explores the implications of interconnections between the two segments of an apparel GPN, showing how they relate to ‘forms of harm’ and ‘forms of living’ for workers in Bangladesh’s apparel waste-handling sector. In doing so, the article broadens the labour perspective within the GPN literature and demonstrates that such analysis is essential for any substantial understanding of sustainability in GPNs.

Author Biographies

Aysha Siddika, Roskilde University

Aysha Siddika is a PhD Fellow at the Department of Social Science and Business at Roskilde University, Denmark, with an interdisciplinary background. Her research examines working conditions, bargaining rights and worker agency within global apparel production networks, with a particular focus on worker participation in climate change related decision-making. Her empirical work is based in the Bangladeshi apparel industry, including the post-production waste recycling sector. Prior to undertaking doctoral study, she worked as a Lecturer and Researcher at the Department of History, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh.

Lone Riisgaard, Roskilde University

Lone Riisgaard, PhD, is an associate professor at the Department of Social Science and Business at Roskilde University, Denmark. She has through her academic career carried out extensive research related to workers conditions and in particular workers collective agency. She has been involved in research related to the regulation through private sustainability standards and the regulation and agency of labor in global value chains. More recently, she has focused on the collective agency of informal workers in relations to their access to social protection and more broadly with regards to representation.

Downloads

Published

2026-05-31

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2026): May Issue

Section

ARTICLES

License

Global Labour Journal's authors grant the journal permission to publish, but they retain copyright of their manuscripts. The Global Labour Journal applies a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License.

Under the terms of this licensing framework anyone is free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions:

  1. Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
  2. Noncommercial Use: You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
  3. No Derivative Works: You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.

Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder, the author of the piece. The author's moral rights are retained in this license.