Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers' Perspective

284 Pages·2005·1.84 MB·English

Hale/ThreadsofLabour FinalProof 6.7.2005 11:06am page i
Threads of Labour
Hale/ThreadsofLabour FinalProof 6.7.2005 11:06am page ii
ANTIPODE BOOK SERIES
GeneralEditor:NoelCastree,ProfessorofGeography,UniversityofManchester,UK
Like its parent journal, the Antipode Book series reflects distinctive new developments in
radicalgeography.Itpublishesbooksinavarietyofformats–fromreferencebookstoworks
of broad explication to titles that develop and extend the scholarly research base – but the
commitmentisalwaysthesame:tocontributetothepraxisofanewandmorejustsociety.
Published
DavidHarvey:ACriticalReader
EditedbyNoelCastreeandDerekGregory
ThreadsofLabour
EditedbyAngelaHaleandJaneWills
Life’sWork:GeographiesofSocialReproduction
EditedbyKatharyneMitchell,SallieA.MarstonandCindiKatz
RedundantMasculinities?EmploymentChangeandWhiteWorkingClassYouth
LindaMcDowell
SpacesofNeoliberalism
EditedbyNeilBrennerandNikTheodore
Space,PlaceandtheNewLabourInternationalism
EditedbyPeterWatermanandJaneWills
Forthcoming
WorkingtheSpacesofNeoliberalism:Activism,ProfessionalisationandIncorporation
EditedbyNinaLaurieandLizBondi
Neo-liberalization:Borders,Edges,Frontiers,Peoples
EditedbyKimEngland&KevinWard
CitiesofWhiteness
WendyShaw
TheSouthStrikesBack:LabourintheGlobalEconomy
RobLambertandEdwardWebster
Hale/ThreadsofLabour FinalProof 6.7.2005 11:06am page iii
Threads of Labour
Garment Industry Supply
Chains from the Workers’
Perspective
Edited by
Angela Hale and Jane Wills
Women Working Worldwide
Hale/ThreadsofLabour FinalProof 6.7.2005 11:06am page iv
(cid:1)2005byBlackwellPublishingLtd
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Firstpublished2005byBlackwellPublishingLtd
1 2005
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Threadsoflabour:garmentindustrysupplychainsfromtheworkers’perspective/editedby
AngelaHaleandJaneWills.
p.cm.—(Antipodebookseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-1-4051-2637-3(hardback:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:1-4051-2637-X(hardback:alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-1-4051-2638-0(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:1-4051-2638-8(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Womenclothingworkers—Economicconditions.2.Clothingtrade—Subcontracting.
3.Clothingworkers—Laborunions.4.Employeerights.I.Hale,Angela.II.Wills,Jane.III.Series.
HD6073.C6T4772005
331.7’687—dc22
2005006164
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Hale/ThreadsofLabour FinalProof 6.7.2005 11:07am page v
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables viii
List of Boxes ix
About the Authors xi
Acknowledgements xiv
Abbreviations and Acronyms xvi
1 Threads of Labour in the Global Garment Industry 1
Jane Wills with Angela Hale
2 The Changing Face of the Global Garment Industry 16
Jennifer Hurley with Doug Miller
3 Organising and Networking in Support of Garment
Workers: Why We Researched Subcontracting Chains 40
Angela Hale
4 Action Research: Tracing the Threads of Labour in the
Global Garment Industry 69
Jane Wills with Jennifer Hurley
5 Unravelling the Web: Supply Chains and Workers’ Lives in
the Garment Industry 95
Jennifer Hurley
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vi CONTENTS
6 Coming Undone: The Implications of Garment Industry
Subcontracting for UK Workers 133
Camille Warren
7 The Impact of Full-Package Production on Mexico’s
Blue Jean Capital 161
Lynda Yanz with Bob Jeffcott
8 Defending Workers’ Rights in Subcontracted Workplaces 189
Rohini Hensman
9 The Phase-Out of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement from the
Perspective of Workers 210
Angela Hale with Maggie Burns
10 Conclusion 234
Angela Hale with Jane Wills
References 240
Index 254
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Figures
1.1 Countries where the research was conducted 2
2.1 World textile and clothing exports 18
2.2 Simplified functions of a garment supply chain 19
2.3 The pyramid/iceberg model of the supply chain 24
2.4 A Gap supply chain 28
5.1 The tiers of production in garment supply chains 98
5.2 The Induico supply chain 110
5.3 The Fanco supply chain 112
5.4 The Benetton supply chain 114
5.5 Diagram of a ‘market-based’ network 115
5.6 Comparative wages in a typical supply chain in Guangdong
Province, China 121
6.1 Typical subcontracting chain of Leeds homeworker 143
6.2 Typical subcontracting chain of Rochdale homeworker 144
6.3 Subcontracting map of the Manchester knitting factories 149
6.4 Typical subcontracting chain of companies that produce
both in the UK and abroad 152
7.1 Map of Mexico showing Tehuacan 162
7.2 The Tehuacan garment industry hierarchy 170
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Tables
2.1 Major clothing companies in the industrialised countries 22
2.2 Hourly wage rates for selected countries, 2002 33
4.1 The organisations involved in the research and their
research objectives 76
4.2 The main activities following the research 85
5.1 Insourcing and outsourcing to increase production 105
5.2 The differences between local and migrant workers in
Guangdong Province, China 118
9.1 Hourly labour costs including social and fringe benefits
(US$), 1996 218
9.2 Summary of recommendations for action in response
to the end of the MFA (public sector) 230
9.3 Summary of recommendations for action in response
to the end of the MFA (private sector) 231
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Boxes
2.1 A Gap supply chain 26
2.2 Export processing zones 35
2.3 The case of Ramatex in Namibia 37
3.1 Organising garment workers in Korea 45
3.2 Sri Lanka: An eye is worth 5 dollars 47
3.3 The Philippines: Campaign in support of a year-long
lock-out 48
3.4 The Maria Elena Cuadra Women’s Movement (MEC)
in Nicaragua 53
3.5 The September 19th women garment workers’ union in
Mexico 54
3.6 Victory at Jaqalanka, Sri Lanka 58
3.7 International links in support of Lesotho garment workers 60
4.1 Research conducted by the Women Workers’ Project
(Innabuyog-Metro) Baguio City, Philippines 79
4.2 The research conducted by the Union Research Group,
India 81
5.1 Employment conditions at a Tier 1 factory in Thailand 99
5.2 Behind the scenes at Next’s design and sourcing
department 102
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x BOXES
5.3 Working in a neighbour’s house 103
5.4 An example of homeworking in Guangdong Province,
China 106
5.5 An example of homeworking in India 107
5.6 Employee or employer? Subcontracting to family and
friends 108
5.7 The gender composition of the garment industry in
Bulgaria 117
5.8 The problem of irregular hours of work 124
5.9 Behind the factory door: Health and safety in Bangladeshi
factories 126
5.10 Zarina’s and Delowara’s stories 127
5.11 Blacklisted for organising in the Philippines 130
6.1 Homeworking in Leeds 145
6.2 Homeworking in Rochdale 147
6.3 Working in knitwear in Manchester 151
6.4 Working in a garment company with outsourced
production abroad 154
9.1 The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) 212
9.2 Bangladesh 221
9.3 Sri Lanka 221