Threads of Labour - (Antipode Book) by Angela Hale & Jane Wills (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Threads of Labour presents new empirical research by a network of garment workers' support organizations and makes sense of global supply chains from the bottom up.

• Presents new empirical research by a network of garment workers' support organizations in ten different locations in Asia, Europe and Mexico.
• Creates a blueprint for conducting worker-orientated action research in order to better understand and resist the negative impact of globalization on labour.
• Ensures that workers' voices reach those who are already trying to reconfigure global capitalism in more humane directions.
• Explores the ways in which workers might begin to develop new forms of organization that are more suited to securing gains in the global garment industry.
• Bridges the gap between activist and academic research, improving the conversation between these two groups.

From the Back Cover

Threads of Labour draws on a rich body of action research gathered by organisations supporting women workers in ten different garment-producing locations in Asia, Europe and Mexico. This research provides important new empirical information about the global garment industry and also creates a blueprint for conducting worker-oriented action research in order to better understand and resist the negative impact of globalization on labour.

This book combines bottom-up research conducted by women workers' organisations with the latest academic research and debate. It seeks to ensure that workers' voices reach those who are trying to reconfigure global capitalism in more humane directions. Finally, it explores the ways in which workers might begin to develop new forms of organization that are more suited to securing gains in the global garment industry than those strategies deployed in the past.

Review Quotes

"A vibrant, innovative and up-to-date book, that recognizes the diversity of women's experience of networked global capitalism and charts both their experience of exploitation and their strategies of resistance. Threads of Labour provides a sober but constructive assessment of international multi-stakeholder initiatives to improve conditions for garment workers."
Diane Elson, University of Essex

"I would highly recommend Threads of Labour to anyone wishing to learn the intricacies of the global garment industry, and what action can be taken to make change happen."
Red Pepper

"A ground-breaking and original study of the contested geographies of women working in the global garments trade. Theoretically, empirically and politically rich and innovative. This is one of the most sustained and exciting examples of action research in the discipline."
David Featherstone, University of Liverpool

"This book gives valuable insights for decision-makers in international clothing brands. Read it and learn how garment workers worldwide are affected by the sub-contracted manufacturing that characterises this industry."
Dan Rees, Director of the Ethical Trading Initiative

"A politically engaged, detailed and scholarly account of global garment subcontracting ... This book is required reading for researchers, students, and activists with a serious interest in global trade and global exploitation." Network

"An essential read for globalization scholars and activists alike [and] breaks new ground by presenting a coordinated research approach for analyzing global supply chains and how power is constructed-and contested-through the links that bind them."
Norma M. Rantisi, Concordia University, Economic Geography

About the Author

Angela Hale is Director of Women Working Worldwide, an NGO based at Manchester Metropolitan University. She previously lectured in sociology at the university and has published many articles relating to women workers. Women Working Worldwide works with a network of trade unions and NGOs supporting the rights of workers in international supply chains producing consumer goods for the world market.

Jane Wills is Reader in Geography at Queen Mary, University of London and a board member of Women Working Worldwide. Her previous publications include Dissident Geographies: An Introduction to Radical Ideas and Practices (2000), Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms (Blackwell Publishing, 2001) and Union Futures: Building Networked Trade Unionism in the UK (2002).