| dc.description.abstract | As a consequence of outsourcing processes of global firms, individuals in the Global
South are increasingly involved in global value chain dynamics. However, individuals’
inclusion in the labor force does not always equate to improved well-being and
empowerment. In fact, precarious working conditions have been at the center of heated
debates, involving scientists, experts and activists. The Indian garment sector serves as
an illustrative case for discussing workers’ ability to exercise agency and on the structural
elements enabling or hindering the said agency. The research aims to answer the
following question: “How is garment workers’ agency in India shaped by individuals’ socioeconomic factors?”.
By means of a mixed methodology, including primary interview data and secondary
data from systematic literature review, this research finds that agency of workers in India
is exercised in acts of resilience and acts of reworking. Garment manufacture workers are
the most vulnerable actors in a factory, due to their low bargaining potential, the
interchangeability of their work, the lack of legal protection and the power abuse by
authorities, both within the factory and at a larger scale. Amongst all manufacture
workers, some are subjected to worse discrimination in their workplace and within
society, due to their socio-economic background, their religion and the type of production
organization structure.
Lastly, interventions by global firms and the Indian government for improving
workers’ conditions have been mostly futile, due to the business-state partnerships
founded on accumulation of capital and power. This thesis concludes that institutional
decision-making pose structural obstacles to acts of resilience, unionization and
ultimately to improved working conditions of garment manufacturers.
Given the recent mass layoffs and unpaid orders by leading fashion firms, further
research is suggested to assess the consequences of Covid-19 pandemic on the power
relations across the value chain. | |
