Multi-scalar Governance and Labour Agency in Global Production Networks: Contestation and Crisis in South African Fruit Matthew Alford, University of Manchester Stephanie Barrientos, University of Manchester Margareet Visser, University of Cape Town

Introduction Analyses uprising of precarious workers in ZA fruit – major exporter to UK This paper: – Analyses links between GPN analysis and multi-scalar labour agency – Examines complexities and tensions of agency by unorganised precarious workers – Addresses following question: ‘How are tensions between commercial drivers and governance of labour in global production networks driving precarious work, and what are the implications for emergent forms of multi-scalar labour agency?’

GPN Analysis and Labour Agency GPNs and embeddedness (Hess et al) - for workers shaped by interaction of economic/social Precarious work (all insecure, poorly protected labour). – Global: commercial ‘purchasing practices’ of buyers – National: legislative and provisioning environment – Community: off-farm deprived locations (within and between) Bargaining position (Nathan) - power asymmetries between/within actors but also new leverage points GPNs & multi-scalar labour agency (Wills, Tufts, Coe): – Beyond workplace – Contested global/national/community terrains

Precarious Work in S. African Fruit Global commercial shifts (supermarkets) National legislative shifts Community/civil society tensions

Casual Labour Protests Erupt, Western Cape

Crisis in the South African fruit sector What happened during the crisis? Labour crisis erupted in November 2012 – March Unorganised casual farmworkers rose up on mass over wages and working conditions Workers demand government raise minimum wage to R150 Blocked N1 & N2 (main routes into Cape Town & port) Widespread violence, burning of some farms, death of 3 workers What was the response from different GPN actors to the crisis? Multi-scalar response from GPN actors: farm workers (permanent and casual); government actors ; civil society organisations (CSOs); fruit producers (and later supermarkets) Tensions within and between each of these GPN actor groups across multiple geographical scales (global, national, local) Outcome of the labour crisis: minimum wage increase to R105

Precarious Labour Global Buyers LABOUR AGENCY Supermarket Codes National Government Community Based CSOs Employers Agricultural Min Wage Employment /wages Trade Unions Multi-scalar agency across GPN during crisis GPN pressures National Regulatory pressures MULTI-SCALAR ACTORS MULTI-SCALAR OUTCOMES

Analytical implications of South African fruit crisis 1. GPN Drivers and regulatory pressures: cost pressures and quality combined leads to precarious work 2. Labour embeddedness: both economic (shapes workforce and conditions of employment) and social (shapes labour market environment, legislative protection, level of trade union organisation – or lack of it). 3. Multi-scalar labour agency: reflect assertion of agency at local community based level; upscaling to national regulatory level; global value chain disruption – which a GPN/labour agency framework helps unpack 4. Bargaining deficits at multiple scales across GPNs: economic (supermarket / producer) and social (ineffective public/private governance, weak CSOs) – still have bargaining positions BUT doesn’t address the commercial pressures. New strategies are required to address root cause of precarious work.