CONDITIONS AND SOURCES OF LABOR REPRODUCTION IN GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS: THE CASE OF UKRAINIAN GARMENT SECTOR

Abstract

Problems of labor (power) reproduction in global garment supply chains are broadly reviewed in related research. However, little or no attention has been payed to these issues in post-Soviet countries in general and in Ukraine in particular. Using Marxist and Marxist feminist approaches to labor reproduction and based on semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian factory workers, this article analyzes production-related conditions of their labor reproduction and additional sources of material resources and time necessary for it. It reveals that Ukrainian garment workers, who produce for Western brands, often have poor conditions of labor reproduction due to immanent features of global supply chains' operation, as well as due to poor law enforcement, management's arbitrariness and company unionism. For many of the interviewed workers, these conditions of labor reproduction result in consumption austerity and the problem of gender-related high load of reproductive labor which often have to be managed at the expense of rest, recreation and social life. Additional sources of labor reproduction that workers can attain outside the production process have a further negative impact through time and health-related pressure on their quality of life, further financial insecurity, additional pressure and control by employers. These results problematize socio-economic outcomes of inclusion into global supply chains as international brands transfer a part of the labor reproduction load on the local state and workers. The article reveals that broadening our focus, from the production process to a number of activities beyond production, can contribute to the Marxist approach to labor reproduction and its sources. Keywords: reproduction of labor power, sources of labor reproduction, reproductive labor, global supply chains, gender, Marxism.