Paper short abstract:

We examine the politics of labour agency and resulting drivers of conflict as manufacturing companies from the Global South incorporate new locations into existing global production networks, using the example of the Ethiopian apparel industry.

Paper long abstract:

We examine the emerging politics of labour agency as manufacturing companies from the Global South incorporate new locations into existing global production networks, using the example of the Ethiopian apparel industry. The Ethiopian state has attracted leading apparel manufacturers into a series of new industrial parks in the country. Both investors and the Ethiopian government expected to find a pliant labour force willing to work for low wages. However, the new sector has already seen a wave of resistance from workers. We ask which factors drive and constrain labour agency and shape the specific forms it takes in firms tied into leading global production networks. Drawing on a quantitative large-N survey of factory workers and in-depth qualitative interviews with managers, workers, trade union representatives and government officials, we show how the quality of industrial relations depends not just on state action and the business strategies of lead firms in production networks, but also on variegated forms of labour agency used both by organised and unorganised by Ethiopian workers. We find that many industrial conflicts result from the collision of the productivity imperatives of manufacturing firms tied into demanding segments of global production networks with the expectations of workers, but are compounded by the contradictory actions of different state agencies, a lack of formal unionisation, and the interactions of factory-based grievances with local political conflicts. Industrial parks emerge as spaces of particular contestation. Our findings highlight the need to adopt an understanding of labour regimes grounded in local political realities.