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Predatory purchasing practices in global apparel supply chains and the employment relations squeeze in the Indian garment export industry
Author(s) -
ANNER Mark
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international labour review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.433
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1564-913X
pISSN - 0020-7780
DOI - 10.1111/ilr.12149
Subject(s) - clothing , supply chain , productivity , purchasing power , purchasing , work (physics) , business , labour economics , predatory pricing , industrial organization , economics , market economy , marketing , monopoly , engineering , economic growth , history , archaeology , mechanical engineering , keynesian economics
Abstract While the literature has long acknowledged worker rights abuses in global apparel supply chains, less attention has been paid to the recent worsening of certain decent work deficits and its causes, which this article links to predatory purchasing practices arising from growing power asymmetries. These practices, illustrated here by the garment export industry in India, exert downward pressure on wages and incite non‐standard forms of employment and greater verbal and physical abuse as productivity demands rise. They can be addressed through pricing mechanisms that cover the cost of decent work, appropriate State regulation and worker involvement.