Thursday 12 April 2012 at 11:30 - 13:00 WORK, EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC LIFE 2


GLOBAL Timms, J.


ROGER STEVENS 11 London School of Economics and Political Science


Corporate Social Responsibility and the Thorny Issue of Working Conditions in the Cut Flower Industry: Globalisibg Commodity Chains, Globalising Campaign Networks


The cut flower industry has experienced significant growth over the last two decades, and more newly developing countries are aggressively pursuing flower exports. The conditions of employment of cut flower workers are particularly problematic and the reasons can be linked to processes of capitalist globalisation. Technological developments have facilitated intensive farming and global supply chains involve some of the poorest countries, whilst the rise of supermarket power has intensified competition and price sensitivity. The work is precarious, characterised by dramatic changes in seasonal demand, and the workforce is largely made up of temporary, unorganised, low paid women. Cost pressures and the nature of the product also bring environmental and health concerns, such as the use of highly toxic chemicals to increase crops and prolong life in transit to distant shops. This paper presents research on the developing networks of campaigners aiming to improve the conditions of cut flower workers, and how notions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are being mobilised in these campaigns by different but sometimes connected groups, working in different but sometimes overlapping ways. The research involved textual analysis of CSR related materials from companies involved in growing, transporting, trading and retailing cut flowers; certification bodies; and campaigners. Interviews were also conducted with key individuals. The data represents a case study from a larger project, and serves to illustrate the potential implications of emerging and competing approaches to CSR for employment regulation and the response of the labour movement.


Bonnin, D. University of KwaZulu-Natal


Globalising the Home Textile Supply Chain: Implications for the Work of Textile Designers in the United Kingdom and South Africa


Globally there has been the closure of manufacturing in countries which traditionally had a large textile manufacturing sector. This has been in the case in both the United Kingdom and in South Africa. In both countries most of the local mills have closed down and much of the manufacturing is now done in China and imported for retail. Both countries have also had vibrant design sectors in home textiles (ie furnishing, curtaining and bedding). In both countries there are similarities as well as the differences in the way in which the home textile supply chain has globalised. This has had different implications for the labour market for, and, the work of, textile designers. This paper will explore the implications of these changes for the work of textile designers in both the United Kingdom and South Africa.


In order to answer these questions the paper will firstly provide a brief background to the home textile sectors in both counties, it will then outline the way in which the supply chain has globalised and finally explore the implications for the work of textile designers in both countries. The major problematic that the paper will try to understand is the reasons behind the successful integration of United Kingdom-based textile designers into the 'new' global supply chain verses the marginalisation of South African-based textile designers.


Mirchandani, K. Authenticity Work in the Global Service Economy


Based on one hundred interviews with workers at call centers in Bangalore, Delhi and Pune over the past decade, this paper explores the 'authenticity work' which forms an integral part of transnational service jobs. Transnational service work provides the landscape for the re-inscription and daily, commonplace exercise of hierarchy between national subjects. Call centers in India are sites of colonial domination, patriarchal reification, identity construction, worker resistance, management control and racist expression - occurring simultaneously - through overt work processes and normative subtexts in place. In these sites, workers negotiate these relations in their daily lives and perform invisible yet vital 'authenticity work' in order to hold the tension between diverse and divergent forces. The unique position of transnational customer service workers, which makes them an emerging touchstone of globalization, rests in their location on the multiple borders of class, nation and production.


As capital crosses national borders, colonial histories and racial hierarchies become inextricably intertwined. As a result workers are asked to imagine themselves in the eyes of their Western clients. They are asked to become these imagined ideal workers, and to be believable and authentic in their emulation of this ideal. This involves making sense of hierarchies of power as well as constructions of difference and the emerging expectations. It also involves establishing legitimacy, closeness and familiarity in light of these expectations of difference.


180 University of Toronto


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