Multi-scalar Governance and Labour Agency in
Global Production Networks:
Contestation and Crisis in South African Fruit
Matthew Alford, University of Manchester
Stephanie Barrientos, University of Manchester
Margareet Visser, University of Cape Town
Introduction
• Analyses uprising of precarious workers in ZA fruit –
major exporter to UK
• This paper:
– Analyses links between GPN analysis and multi-scalar
labour agency
– Examines complexities and tensions of agency by
unorganised precarious workers
– Addresses following question:
‘How are tensions between commercial drivers and
governance of labour in global production networks driving
precarious work, and what are the implications for emergent
forms of multi-scalar labour agency?’
GPN Analysis and Labour Agency
• GPNs and embeddedness (Hess et al) - for workers
shaped by interaction of economic/social
• Precarious work (all insecure, poorly protected labour).
– Global: commercial ‘purchasing practices’ of buyers
– National: legislative and provisioning environment
– Community: off-farm deprived locations (within and
between)
• Bargaining position (Nathan) - power asymmetries
between/within actors but also new leverage points
• GPNs & multi-scalar labour agency (Wills, Tufts, Coe):
– Beyond workplace
– Contested global/national/community terrains
Precarious Work in S. African Fruit
• Global commercial shifts (supermarkets)
• National legislative shifts
• Community/civil society tensions
Casual Labour
Protests Erupt,
Western Cape
2012 - 2013
Crisis in the South African fruit sector
What happened during the crisis?
• Labour crisis erupted in November 2012 – March 2013.
• Unorganised casual farmworkers rose up on mass over wages and
working conditions
• Workers demand government raise minimum wage to R150
Blocked N1 & N2 (main routes into Cape Town & port)
• Widespread violence, burning of some farms, death of 3 workers
What was the response from different GPN actors to the crisis?
• Multi-scalar response from GPN actors: farm workers (permanent
and casual); government actors ; civil society organisations (CSOs);
fruit producers (and later supermarkets)
• Tensions within and between each of these GPN actor groups
across multiple geographical scales (global, national, local)
• Outcome of the labour crisis: minimum wage increase to
R105
Multi-scalar agency across GPN during crisis
National
Regulatory
pressures
MULTI-SCALAR ACTORS
GPN pressures
Precarious
Labour
Global Buyers
National
Government
Employers
Trade Unions
Community Based
CSOs
MULTI-SCALAR OUTCOMES
Supermarket Codes
LABOUR
AGENCY
Agricultural Min
Wage
Employment
/wages
Analytical implications of
South African fruit crisis
1. GPN Drivers and regulatory pressures: cost pressures and quality combined
leads to precarious work
2. Labour embeddedness: both economic (shapes workforce and conditions of
employment) and social (shapes labour market environment, legislative
protection, level of trade union organisation – or lack of it).
3. Multi-scalar labour agency: reflect assertion of agency at local community
based level; upscaling to national regulatory level; global value chain disruption –
which a GPN/labour agency framework helps unpack
4. Bargaining deficits at multiple scales across GPNs: economic (supermarket /
producer) and social (ineffective public/private governance, weak CSOs) – still
have bargaining positions BUT doesn’t address the commercial pressures. New
strategies are required to address root cause of precarious work.