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Predatory purchasing practices in global apparel supply chains and the employment relations squeeze in the Indian garment export industry

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  • Mark ANNER

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.

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  • Mark ANNER, 2019. "Predatory purchasing practices in global apparel supply chains and the employment relations squeeze in the Indian garment export industry," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(4), pages 705-727, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:158:y:2019:i:4:p:705-727
    DOI: 10.1111/ilr.12149
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nathan,Dev & Tewari,Meenu & Sarkar,Sandip (ed.), 2016. "Labour in Global Value Chains in Asia," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107103740, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mark ANNER, 2022. "Power relations in global supply chains and the unequal distribution of costs during crises: Abandoning garment suppliers and workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 161(1), pages 59-82, March.
    2. Hosna J. Shewly & Ellen Bal & Runa Laila, 2024. "Hyper‐Precarious Lives: Understanding Migration, Global Supply Chain, and Gender Dynamics in Bangladesh," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    3. Nahar, Habiba Lilun, 2024. "Addressing the silence: A study on the underreporting of sexual violence among female garment workers in Bangladesh," GLU Working Papers 64, Global Labour University (GLU).
    4. Priya Deshingkar, 2022. "Structural Violence and Normalising Human Suffering: Labour Migration During the COVID Pandemic in India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 17(1), pages 134-140, April.
    5. Nikolaus Hammer, 2023. "Searching for institutions: upgrading, private compliance, and due diligence in European apparel value chains," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 371-386, August.
    6. Jean‐Christophe Graz & Jimena Sobrino Piazza & André Walter, 2022. "Labour Standards in Global Production Networks: Assessing Transnational Private Regulation and Workers’ Capacity to Act," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 912-937, July.
    7. James HARRISON & Margarita PAREJO & Mark WIELGA, 2024. "The value of complaints mechanisms in the private labour regulation of GVCs: A case study of the Fair Labor Association," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 163(1), pages 73-94, March.
    8. Madushan Madhava Jayalath & H. Niles Perera & Stefan Seuring & Amila Thibbotuwawa, 2024. "Social drivers affecting job design in apparel supply chains: Inferences from a discrete choice experiment," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3395-3413, July.
    9. Jonathan Morris & Jean Jenkins & Jimmy Donaghey, 2021. "Uneven Development, Uneven Response: The Relentless Search for Meaningful Regulation of GVCs," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 3-24, March.

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