Labour Recruitment Systems in Global Production Networks: The Ruralisation of Labour Regimes in South India’s Garment and Textile Industries

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article argues that the labour regime in the garment and textile industries in Tiruppur and Coimbatore, India has transformed from an unorganised feminisation to formalised, ruralised labour, which locates new forms of precarity in the region’s larger factories. Labour brokers’ recruitment of long-distance male migrants has fashioned a national labour market for the recruitment of the region’s garment and textile workers. Feminisation of the workforce now includes the specific recruitment of unmarried women through labour brokers, the use of lump-sum employment contracts and company provision of hostel accommodation. Combining theoretical insights from the literatures on local labour regimes and global production networks, the article argues that labour recruitment strategies play an active role in the construction of regional labour markets and organisation of global production networks.