Labour in the circuits of global markets: theories and realities
Supply chains are becoming ever more tightly integrated as corporations vie with each other to bring their products to global markets before they lose their value through replication or obsolescence. The restructuring of supply chains involves the interaction of a range of different public and private, local and global actors, including companies involved in ‘knowledge-based’ activities as well as those producing and shipping material goods. Both intellectual and manual labour are implicated in these processes of consolidation and acceleration. The squeeze on workers may result in intensification of work, the precarisation of working conditions and the fragmentation of the workforce, raising challenges for the organisation and representation of labour. This volume brings together accounts of what is happening to logistical labour along global supply chains with theoretical discussions of the problematic relationship between the ‘knowledge-based’ and real economies, and material and immaterial labour, with contributions from Europe, Asia and the Americas. This volume makes important contributions in the fields of political economy, geography and labour sociology.
Contents
Labour in the circuits of global markets: theories and realities
by Ursula Huws
The containment of labour in accelerated global supply chains: the case of
Piraeus Port
by Pavlos Hatzopoulos, Nelli Kambouri and Ursula Huws
Regressive safety practices in the globalised shipping industry
by Suresh Bhardwaj
Chinese Overseas Foreign Direct Investment and the Sino-Serbian
Strategic Partnership
by Graham Hollinshead
‘Sorry mate, you’re finishing tonight’: a historical perspective on
employment flexibility in the UK film industry
by Will Atkinson and Keith Randle
Old wine, new bottles and the Internet
by Guglielmo Carchedi
Theories of immaterial labour: a critical reflection based on Marx
by Henrique Amorim
Review: From Silicon Valley to Shenzen: global production and work
in the IT Industry
by Enda Brophy 1
Review: Flip-flop: a journey through globalization’s backroads
by Liz Heron
Work organisation, labour & globalisation 