The fragility of public-private labour governance in times of crisis: The Sri Lankan apparel industry in post-pandemic times

In recent debates concerning labour governance in global value chains (GVCs), it has been convincingly argued that the combination of public and private governance is necessary to effectively tackle workplace labour standards. This paper contributes to this debate in two ways. First, the paper demonstrates that an effective marriage of public-private governance is conditional on periods of economic and political stability. At times of instability and crises, the effective articulation of public-private governance can very quickly erode, resulting in the de facto degradation of labour standards. The paper argues that this is primarily due to the state relaxing social welfare standards with priority given to the survival of business. Second, the paper provides additional empirical evidence, contributing to existing debates arguing that the success of the articulation of public-private governance is primarily contingent on the strength of state regulatory capacity providing the framework within which businesses are regulated. We demonstrate how the erosion of public governance in periods of crisis allows employers to develop strategies to avoid compliance with, and undermine the effectiveness of, public labour governance mechanisms. The paper makes this case by examining the Sri Lankan apparel industry during the multiple crises that dominated the period between 2019 and 2024, spanning Easter attacks, the Covid19 pandemic, a sovereign debt crisis and geo-political conflicts.