Labor Regimes, Global Production Networks, and European Union Trade Policy

Labor Standards and Export Production in the Moldovan Clothing Industry

Bibliographic Data

ID7757002
AuthorsAdrian Smith (0000-0001-8027-712X, School of GeographyQueen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS United Kingdom, corresponding author), Mirela Barbu (School of Business and ManagementQueen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS United Kingdom), Liam Campling (0000-0001-5872-0295, School of Business and ManagementQueen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS United Kingdom), James Harrison (0000-0001-9893-8491, School of LawWarwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL United Kingdom), Ben Richardson (0000-0001-6653-5647, Department of Politics and International StudiesWarwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL United Kingdom)
Year2018
Volume94
Issue5
Pages550-574
Publication date2018-10-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomic Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0095 • E-ISSN: 1944-8287
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00130095.2018.1434410
OpenAlexW2804004945
LanguageEN
Citations received68
References cited53

This article examines the relations between workplace and local labor regimes, global production networks (GPNs), and the state-led creation of expanded markets as spaces of capitalist regulation through trade policy. Through an examination of the ways in which labor regimes are constituted as a result of the articulation of local social relations and lead-firm pressure in GPNs, the article examines the limits of labor provisions in European Union trade policy seeking to ameliorate the worst consequences of trade liberalization and economic integration on working conditions. The article takes as its empirical focus the Moldovan clothing industry, the leading export-oriented manufacturing sector in the country. Trade liberalization has opened up a market space for EU lead firms to contract with Moldovan-based suppliers, but in seeking to regulate labor conditions in the process of trade liberalization, the mechanisms in place are not sufficient to deal with the consequences for workers’ rights and working conditions. Indeed, when articulated with national state policy formulations seeking to liberalize labor markets and deregulate labor standards, the limits of what can be achieved via labor provisions are reached. The EU’s trade policy formulation does not sufficiently take account of the structural causes of poor working conditions. Consequently, there is a mismatch between what the EU is trying to achieve and the core labor issues that structure social relations in, and labor regimes of, low-wage labor-intensive clothing export production for EU markets

Clothing · Commercial policy · Economics · European union · Free trade · Globalization · International economics · International trade · Labor relations · Labour economics · Liberalization · Market economy · Political science · Trade barrier · Wage · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Industrial relations · International Labor and Employment Law · Labor Movements and Unions