“They Call Us Partners, but the App Controls Everything”

In this interview, Lily Pujiati, founder and chairperson of Serikat Pekerja Angkutan Indonesia (SPAI), the Indonesian Transport Workers’ Union, reflects on her journey into platform work and organising. She also explores women’s leadership in unions and discusses what the new ILO Convention No. 193 on decent work in the platform economy could mean for workers in Indonesia and beyond.

The Outcome Gap: Why Supply Chain Grievance Mechanisms Must Move Beyond Accessibility

Drawing on research in the automotive sector in Mexico, the garment sector in India, and the agricultural sector in Spain, Mareike Standow identifies three recurring barriers to effective remedy and sets out what policymakers and companies must do to ensure grievance mechanisms deliver meaningful outcomes.

“The beedi is cheap because women’s labour is made cheap”

In this interview, Jabeena Khanum and Karibasappa M of the Neralu Beedi Workers’ Union describe the hidden supply chain behind India’s beedi industry and the realities of organising women who roll beedis from their homes. They explore how patriarchy, religious norms, and community pressure shape women’s working lives, and how the union is creating an alternative space where women can come together, recognise their shared struggles, and build confidence, solidarity, and collective power.

“We became adults very early inside the garment factories.”

In this interview, Sultana Begum reflects on four decades in Bangladesh’s garment industry: entering factory work as a child, becoming a trade union organiser, and later leading Green Bangla Garments Workers Federation. She speaks about wage theft, unsafe work, and gendered harassment faced by women garment workers, as well as the difficult journey of building women’s leadership inside a male-dominated labour movement.

Enforceable Brand Agreements: Potential and Limits to Address Gender-Based Violence

Written by Pauline Jerrentrup and Nandita Shivakumar, this brief examines when enforceable brand agreements can address gender-based violence in global fashion supply chains. Comparing the Dindigul and Lesotho Agreements, it highlights the importance of women-led organising, accessible grievance mechanisms, and continued sourcing commitments from brands.

This Isn’t Heat. It’s Violence.

In this essay, Shikha Silliman Bhattacharjee argues that extreme heat at work must be understood not only as a climate hazard, but as a form of workplace violence. Drawing evidence from various global supply chains and across countries, she shows how production targets, wage systems, and algorithmic pressures continue as if working conditions have not become hotter and more dangerous — forcing workers, rather than employers or contractors, to absorb the costs of rising heat.

“The least I can offer is to listen.”

In this interview, Nani Baral reflects on three years of researching migrant workers’ lives across South Asia, Malaysia, and the Gulf. Speaking with Nandita Shivakumar and Jason Nemerovski, she explains how patience, trust, and genuine listening can become part of research practice, helping build relationships with communities rooted in reciprocity, care, and accountability.