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Ashok Kumar

University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, PhD

London School of Economics and Political Science, Social Policy Methods, Alumnus

Institute of International Education, Fulbright Scholar, Alumnus

School of Advanced Study, University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Associate Fellow

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Languages & Cultures of Asia; Religious Studies, Alumnus

Queen Mary, University of London, Geography, Faculty Member

Birkbeck College, University of London, Management, Faculty Member

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I reside in London where I'm a Senior Lecturer (tenured associate professor) of Political Economy.

I received my PhD at Oxford University, my MSc at the London School of Economics, and my BA at the University of Wisconsin (Madison).

My previous research includes measuring workers' bargaining power in global value chains as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow ('15-'18), a study of the Sri Lankan working class funded through the Fulbright Research Fellowship ('08-09) and research on landless peasant movements in Karnataka funded through a Wisconsin Idea Fellowship Grant ('06).

I’ve sat on the editorial board of Environment and Planning D: Society and Space and am currently a member of editorial collectives of the journals Historical Materialism and City. I've taught at a number of universities among them Oxford, Cambridge, and Queen Mary.

My most recent book Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age is out with Cambridge University Press won the American Sociological Association's 2021 Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Prize, was shortlisted for the 2021 BISA-IPEG Book Prize, and won the 2022 Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award.

The book demonstrates that the production process under global capitalism is governed by a universal logic that shapes the structural bargaining power of workers.

Monopsony Capitalism: www.monopsonycapitalism.com
University: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/our-staff/profile/9159291/ashok-kumar#overview
Twitter: @broseph_stalin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashok.kumar6

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Books by Ashok Kumar

Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age (forthcoming September 2020)

Cambridge University Press , Dec 2020

Enclosures and Discontents: Primitive Accumulation, Global Capitalism, and Resistance (forthcoming December 2019)

Routledge, 2019

The contributions in this volume all revisit and reformulate Marx’s concept of primitive accumula... more The contributions in this volume all revisit and reformulate Marx’s concept of primitive accumulation from diverse empirical contexts in the present global age. The chapters present research drawn from Gaza, Syria, Greece, the Philippines, DR Congo, and the Yucatan; global locations that have in common the ongoing, varied, and often repetitive occurrence of dispossession forced by violent conflict, crisis and austerity politics, and corporate expansion. Each chapter also examines changing forms of resistance from across the political spectrum; responses which in themselves serve to demonstrate the deeply embedded, historically specific, class, race and gendered relations implicit in contemporary capitalist expansion. This collection of original work also pushes us to reconsider the old distinct mappings of urban and rural by comparing dispossession and resistance to it inside and outside of the city and within sites which call for a reconstituted understanding of ‘the urban’. Overall, the scholars included use rich and detailed research to variously correct and adjust Marx from their sites of study and through engagements with theoretical reformulations ranging from modernity/coloniality, through to autonomous Marxism.

1. Introduction: ENCLOSURES AND DISCONTENTS: PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION AND RESISTANCE UNDER GLOBALISED CAPITAL

Ashok Kumar, Lisa Tilley and Thomas Cowan

2. THE GOLDEN ‘SALTO MORTALE’ IN THE ERA OF CRISIS: PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION AND LOCAL AND URBAN STRUGGLE IN THE CASE OF SKOURIES GOLD MINING IN GREECE

Charalampos Tsavdaroglou, Konstantinos Petrakos and Vasiliki Makrygianni

3. FARMING THE FRONT LINE: GAZA’S ACTIVIST FARMERS IN THE NO GO ZONES

Ron J. Smith and Martin Isleem

4. LUDDITES IN THE CONGO?: ANALYZING VIOLENT RESPONSES TO THE EXPANSION OF INDUSTRIAL MINING AMIDST MILITARIZATION

Judith Verweijen

5. THE SMELL OF BLOOD: ACCUMULATION BY DISPOSSESSION, RESISTANCE AND THE LANGUAGE OF POPULIST UPRISING IN SYRIA

Philip Proudfoot

6. PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION IN INDIGENOUS MEXICO: THE CONTESTED TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE MAYA SOLAR OF YUCATÁN

Ana Julia Cabrera Pacheco

academic journals by Ashok Kumar

When Monopsony Power Wanes: Subjective Agency (part 2)

Historical Materialism, 2024

In this Part 2, Subjective Agency, I delve into the evolving power and agency of workers as struc... more In this Part 2, Subjective Agency, I delve into the evolving power and agency of workers as structural conditions undergo transformation. Part 1 described how the law of competition propels firms towards centralisation, gradually diminishing the monopsony power wielded by global buyers in labour-intensive sectors. While manufacturers gain more power and significance, capable of undermining workers' power, they also become susceptible to disruption. This section introduces the concept of Degree of Spatial Inflexibility (dsi). It posits that as a manufacturer's monopoly power increases, the monopsony power in the supply chain decreases. However, this elevated monopoly power simultaneously establishes a higher dsi, amplifying the potential for worker disruption. It is essential to recognise that structural power shifts do not guarantee automatic benefits for workers; instead, they necessitate workers to capitalise on these vulnerabilities. This establishes a dialectical relationship between the evolving conditions of capital outlined in Part 1 and the subjective agency of workers, as detailed in Part 2 below.

When Monopsony Power Wanes: Material Conditions (part 1)

Historical Materialism, 2023

In this Part 1, Material Conditions, I look at the changing material conditions of capital in the... more In this Part 1, Material Conditions, I look at the changing material conditions of capital in the most labour-intensive manufacturing sectors in world production. I argue that these changes are leading to a waning in monopsony power. The paper introduces a universal logic that governs competition and reshapes the chain around the question of monopsony in the global supply chain. Put simply, deregulation produces high degrees of monopsony power, increasing the value share for the lead firm. This intensifies competition, exerts downward pressure, and winnows the number of suppliers able to compete. The result is a supplier consolidation. Consolidation increases the surviving suppliers' share of value, which expands access to finance, facilitates self-investment, and raises entry barriers. In Part 2, Subjective Agency, I look at how this leads to the emergence of market spatial inflexibility, which has given labour new openings by increasingly their disruptive power.

Reexamining Race and Capitalism in the Marxist Tradition

by Ashok Kumar and Robert Knox

Historical Materialism, 2023

The question of capitalism’s relationship to issues of race, racism and processes of racialisati... more The question of capitalism’s relationship to issues of race, racism and processes of racialisation has become increasingly prominent in contemporary debates. This special issue of Historical Materialism on ‘Race and Capital’ seeks to intervene in these debates. In this Introduction, we situate the special issue within this wider political, historical and theoretical context. We begin by reconstructing some of the key ten- sions and fault lines within contemporary discussions of race and racism, particularly in relation to the Marxist tradition. Against those who claim a primarily oppositional relationship between the Marxist tradition and anti-racist thinking, we chart a historical account of key moments in which Marxist movements and thinkers have attempted to articulate distinctively historical-materialist accounts of race and racism. We then situate the key themes of the special issue – and the various articles that compose the issue – against this background.

Sectoral Market Power in Global Production: A Theoretical and Observational Study

by Ashok Kumar and Giorgos Galanis

Advances in Complex Systems, 2022

In a globalized world, the distribution of value-added across¯rms depends on a number of factors ... more In a globalized world, the distribution of value-added across¯rms depends on a number of factors that vary across space. A key factor is related to the di®erent types of competition on the multilayer structure of production, which are characterized by di®erent types of (market) power. In this paper, we¯rst argue that PageRank centrality is able to capture sectoral market power within the complex structure of global production. We then study the empirical properties of this market power measure and demonstrate a power-law relationship between sectoral PageRank centrality and relative sectoral pro¯ts. This power-law relationship has (international) political economy implications as it demonstrates the high incentives of sectors to become more central to increase their relative pro¯ts.

China's Reforms as Class Compromise, On Shifting Foundations Symposium

Urban Studies, 2021

A Dynamic Model of Global Value Network Governance

Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 2021

This paper presents a novel understanding of the changing governance structures in global supply ... more This paper presents a novel understanding of the changing governance structures in global supply chains. Motivated by the global garment sector, we develop a geographical political economy dynamic model that reflects the interaction between bargaining power and distribution of value among buyer and producer firms. We find that the interplay between these two forces, in combination with the spatial specificities of global production and consolidation, can drive governance structures towards a more symbiotic position.

A Race from the Bottom? Lessons from a workers' struggle at a Bangalore warehouse

Competition and Change, 2019

This paper analyses the emergence of the 'full package' firm in India and its implications for wo... more This paper analyses the emergence of the 'full package' firm in India and its implications for workers' strategies. A 'full package' firm expands outward, from low-value assembly-only products to high-value specialized garment production; consolidating under one roof. Historically, geographic and political barriers separated centres of value-creation (producers) and value-capture (brands and retailers) in the global garment sector. However, enhanced value-capture at the point of production has led to considerable consolidation organizationally, giving an increasingly symbiotic character to relationships within 'buyer driven' supply chains. Though this change aggregates the bargaining power of workers, it also introduces new obstacles to workers' organization. The concomitant rise of supplier-end value capture allows garment trade unions to nonetheless demand greater shares. Thus, previously unviable modes and methods have become available to workers engaged in struggles with their employers in the globalized garment sector. This paper examines a protracted workers' struggle in light of this process. In doing so, the paper demonstrates that codes of conduct and auditing alone cannot significantly impact labour standards because the needs of capital accumulation are greater than the threat posed by any auditing program or code. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that labour rights within the garment GVC will not arrive through a rights-based approach-though strong codes of conduct and independent auditing can assist-but rather through a combination of an increased power of suppliers visa `-vis buyers, greater workers' bargaining power with their direct employers , and-critically-workers' self organization.

Oligopolistic Suppliers, Symbiotic Value Chains and Workers' Bargaining Power: labour contestation in South China at an ascendant global footwear firm

Global Networks, 2019

In this article, I analyse changes in the power relationship between lead firms, manufacturers an... more In this article, I analyse changes in the power relationship between lead firms, manufacturers and workers by examining a strike that took place in South China in 2014 among workers at the Taiwanese footwear giant, Yue Yuen. In the process, I demonstrate that there is a link between increased labour costs, capital consolidation and greater value capture at the bottom of the global supply chain. I argue that footwear value chains are seeing a falling level of monopsony power and the emergence of enormous oligopolistic suppliers, which are transforming the power imbalances of global supply chains towards a more mutually dependent ‘buyer–producer symbiosis’. The Yue Yuen strike shows a maturing industrial working class, facing pressures on social reproduction in China, adapting its bargaining strategies vis-à-vis the developmental state. Influxes of profit raise the ceiling for what can be demanded of employers, stimulating those same employers to pursue more aggressive means of holding onto their profits. The example of the Yue Yuen strike is an indicator of what are fundamental changes in the production process, dynamics within the value chain, and power and agency of workers in labour-intensive production. The strike demonstrates that consolidation is playing a decisive role in shaping the power relationship between domestic manufacturers and transnational brands, which, in turn, is directly affecting the bargaining power of workers.

Identity Politics: Marxist Interventions into Contemporary Debates (Chinese translation by Chen Houliang and Wang Yaping)

Foreign Theoretical Trends Journal, 2019

Identity Politics: Marxist Interventions into Contemporary Debates is translated into Chinese tra... more Identity Politics: Marxist Interventions into Contemporary Debates is translated into Chinese translation by Chen Houliang and Wang Yaping for the journal Foreign Theoretical Trends. The full original issue was published in Historical Materialism and is freely available at http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/special-issue/issue-262-identity-politics

An Introduction to Identity Politics

by Ashok Kumar and Shruti Iyer

Historical Materialism, 2018

This special issue responds to ongoing debates around what has been termed ‘identity politics’. W... more This special issue responds to ongoing debates around what has been termed ‘identity politics’. We aim to intervene in what are make-or-break questions for the Left today. Specifically, we wish to provoke further interrogative but comradely conversation that works towards breaking-down the wedge between vulgar economism and vulgar culturalism. Critically, we maintain that just as all identity categories are spatially and temporally contingent – socially constructed, yet naturalised – so too is this current bifurcation between ‘class politics’ and ‘identity politics’. Ultimately, we call for an intellectual and organisational embracing of the complexity of identity as it figures in contemporary conditions; being a core organising-principle of capitalism as it functions today, a paradigm that Leftist struggle can be organised through and around – and yet all with a recognition of the necessity of historicising, and ultimately abolishing, these categories along with capitalism itself.

Primitive Accumulation and Resistance under Globalized Capital

by Lisa Tilley, Ashok Kumar, and Thomas Cowan

In the global present, violent conflict, crisis and austerity politics, and corporate expansion a... more In the global present, violent conflict, crisis and austerity politics, and corporate expansion are forcing new and reworked forms of dispossession and enclosure, but also kindling new and reworked modes of resistance. The violence of what Marx referred to as ‘primitive accumulation’—the transformation of the social means of pro- duction into capital by means of mass dispos- session—would therefore appear to be very much alive in our times. This special feature has been conceived to consider the extent to which the concept of primitive accumulation has analytical purchase in the present, the degree to which it requires adjustment, and the ways in which peasant and Indigenous critiques demand its reformulation or even its abandonment. In Marx’s formulation, itself adapted from that of Adam Smith, primitive accumulation described the pro- cesses by which the capitalist mode of pro- duction is violently instigated. Marx’s theory further relied on a dual aspect by which separation from the land in the form of dispossession, along with integration into the labour market in the form of proletariani- sation, combine simultaneously to violently dislocate Indigenous and other non-capitalist communities from their diverse, often com- munitarian and self-sufficient, means of production.

The papers brought together within this special feature variously interrogate four pro- minent points of contention in Marx’s orig- inal theorisation. The first of these is the temporal assumption invested in primitive accumulation as a set of originary processes occurring to instigate capitalist integration; processes which are therefore understood to be prior to, and separate from, subsequent patterns of accumulation. Vital adjustments of Marx’s work have sought to correct this temporal restriction and bring dispossession within broader theories of accumulation by drawing attention to the repetitive and ongoing enclosures found broadly across the global economy (e.g. De Angelis 2001; Harvey 2004; Kropotkin and Shatz 1995).

Workers Hemming Down Transnational Capital

by Ashok Kumar and Jack Mahoney

Journal of Labour and Society, Jun 2014

Fatal disasters in Bangladesh garment factories demand we learn from recent anti-sweatshop breakt... more Fatal disasters in Bangladesh garment factories demand we learn from recent anti-sweatshop breakthroughs. Beginning in 2007, workers at Fruit Of The Loom (FOTL) factories in Honduras built a uniquely successful global campaign. FOTL closed a factory and laid off 1,200 workers in response to workers’ efforts to improve working conditions, a textbook move in the industry’s “race to the bottom.” But nine months later, after the largest collegiate boycott in history, FOTL reopened the factory and extended union neutrality to all its Honduran factories. We argue that the campaign, which resulted in a reversal of the transnational’s decision to abandon the unionized factory and the direct negotiation between FOTL top executives and workers, provides an unprecedented model for labor to rein in the apparel industry’s hyper-mobile capital. Since their negotiated agreement with FOTL, workers have won significant improvements in wages and working conditions, and inspired groundbreaking new campaigns to challenge the transnationals whose products they assemble.

Building a Labour Countermovement

City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, Nov 2014

This paper approaches globalisation as a contradictory and dialectical phenomenon, one in which t... more This paper approaches globalisation as a contradictory and dialectical phenomenon, one in which the tools of exploitation are being subverted into instruments of labour resistance. Through a study of the Garment And Textile Workers’ Union (GATWU) the paper observes how feminised workplaces are bringing to the fore issues of gender oppression alongside exploitation, informalised workplaces are expanding organisational capacity from the shopfloor into community struggles, and the universality of capital has led to transnational links between workers. While the global neoliberal regime weakens traditional paths to unionisation, it has concurrently facilitated alternative strategies of worker organisation and resistance. GATWU members both battle immediate economic issues while transforming worker organisation from an atomised factory workstation, to assembly line, to outside the factory gates, and finally into social movement and transnational spaces. The research takes note of how GATWUs organising strategy both supplements and comes in conflict with struggles of gender and class, the local and global.

Global Workers’ Rights through Capitalist Institutions? An Irreconcilable Proposition

Historical Materialism Journal, Sep 2015

In Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India, Rohini Hensman maintains that glob... more In Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India, Rohini Hensman maintains that globalisation has afforded workers new opportunities for confronting capitalist exploitation. Using India as a point of departure, Hensman highlights globalisation as paradoxical, challenging anti-globalisers and the globalisation-as-imperialism thesis, to argue that capital’s toilers are now becoming its gravediggers. This analysis also explains why the World Trade Organization (WTO) is so appealing to Hensman: a quintessence of capitalism’s contradictions. Hensman argues for both transnational solidarity and independent trade unions, embodied in the ‘employees’ unions’ of India, as well as in favour of the WTO’s ‘social clause’ amendment, in which the global exploiter is transformed into an arbiter of workers’ rights. The review maintains that the terms of Hensman’s twin position are impossible to reconcile. It evinces an underlying contradiction between opportunistic statism and a conception of revolutionary strategy predicated on action ‘from below’.

Labour and Resistance across Global Spaces

by Ashok Kumar and Amber Murrey

City, Nov 2014

Securing The Security

City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, Jun 2014

Review of Jamie McCallum’s Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Orga... more

Atoning for the Past

Responding to Abhijit Sarkar’s “Rhodes Will Not Fall Alone” the authors argue that the aim of the... more

edited special issues by Ashok Kumar

The Politics of Identity

Historical Materialism

We propose a special issue on Identity Politics that will be rigorous, grounded, and contributes... more We propose a special issue on Identity Politics that will be rigorous, grounded, and contributes to theory and praxis, and encourage papers that make theoretical contributions both within and outside the European tradition. We acknowledge that academia has traditionally excluded voices from the margins and encourage submissions in forms of writing both within and outside white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words submitted by email to [email protected] by April 20th, 2016.

Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age (forthcoming September 2020)

Cambridge University Press , Dec 2020

Enclosures and Discontents: Primitive Accumulation, Global Capitalism, and Resistance (forthcoming December 2019)

Routledge, 2019

The contributions in this volume all revisit and reformulate Marx’s concept of primitive accumula... more The contributions in this volume all revisit and reformulate Marx’s concept of primitive accumulation from diverse empirical contexts in the present global age. The chapters present research drawn from Gaza, Syria, Greece, the Philippines, DR Congo, and the Yucatan; global locations that have in common the ongoing, varied, and often repetitive occurrence of dispossession forced by violent conflict, crisis and austerity politics, and corporate expansion. Each chapter also examines changing forms of resistance from across the political spectrum; responses which in themselves serve to demonstrate the deeply embedded, historically specific, class, race and gendered relations implicit in contemporary capitalist expansion. This collection of original work also pushes us to reconsider the old distinct mappings of urban and rural by comparing dispossession and resistance to it inside and outside of the city and within sites which call for a reconstituted understanding of ‘the urban’. Overall, the scholars included use rich and detailed research to variously correct and adjust Marx from their sites of study and through engagements with theoretical reformulations ranging from modernity/coloniality, through to autonomous Marxism.

1. Introduction: ENCLOSURES AND DISCONTENTS: PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION AND RESISTANCE UNDER GLOBALISED CAPITAL

Ashok Kumar, Lisa Tilley and Thomas Cowan

2. THE GOLDEN ‘SALTO MORTALE’ IN THE ERA OF CRISIS: PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION AND LOCAL AND URBAN STRUGGLE IN THE CASE OF SKOURIES GOLD MINING IN GREECE

Charalampos Tsavdaroglou, Konstantinos Petrakos and Vasiliki Makrygianni

3. FARMING THE FRONT LINE: GAZA’S ACTIVIST FARMERS IN THE NO GO ZONES

Ron J. Smith and Martin Isleem

4. LUDDITES IN THE CONGO?: ANALYZING VIOLENT RESPONSES TO THE EXPANSION OF INDUSTRIAL MINING AMIDST MILITARIZATION

Judith Verweijen

5. THE SMELL OF BLOOD: ACCUMULATION BY DISPOSSESSION, RESISTANCE AND THE LANGUAGE OF POPULIST UPRISING IN SYRIA

Philip Proudfoot

6. PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION IN INDIGENOUS MEXICO: THE CONTESTED TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE MAYA SOLAR OF YUCATÁN

Ana Julia Cabrera Pacheco

When Monopsony Power Wanes: Subjective Agency (part 2)

Historical Materialism, 2024

In this Part 2, Subjective Agency, I delve into the evolving power and agency of workers as struc... more In this Part 2, Subjective Agency, I delve into the evolving power and agency of workers as structural conditions undergo transformation. Part 1 described how the law of competition propels firms towards centralisation, gradually diminishing the monopsony power wielded by global buyers in labour-intensive sectors. While manufacturers gain more power and significance, capable of undermining workers' power, they also become susceptible to disruption. This section introduces the concept of Degree of Spatial Inflexibility (dsi). It posits that as a manufacturer's monopoly power increases, the monopsony power in the supply chain decreases. However, this elevated monopoly power simultaneously establishes a higher dsi, amplifying the potential for worker disruption. It is essential to recognise that structural power shifts do not guarantee automatic benefits for workers; instead, they necessitate workers to capitalise on these vulnerabilities. This establishes a dialectical relationship between the evolving conditions of capital outlined in Part 1 and the subjective agency of workers, as detailed in Part 2 below.

When Monopsony Power Wanes: Material Conditions (part 1)

Historical Materialism, 2023

In this Part 1, Material Conditions, I look at the changing material conditions of capital in the... more In this Part 1, Material Conditions, I look at the changing material conditions of capital in the most labour-intensive manufacturing sectors in world production. I argue that these changes are leading to a waning in monopsony power. The paper introduces a universal logic that governs competition and reshapes the chain around the question of monopsony in the global supply chain. Put simply, deregulation produces high degrees of monopsony power, increasing the value share for the lead firm. This intensifies competition, exerts downward pressure, and winnows the number of suppliers able to compete. The result is a supplier consolidation. Consolidation increases the surviving suppliers' share of value, which expands access to finance, facilitates self-investment, and raises entry barriers. In Part 2, Subjective Agency, I look at how this leads to the emergence of market spatial inflexibility, which has given labour new openings by increasingly their disruptive power.

Reexamining Race and Capitalism in the Marxist Tradition

by Ashok Kumar and Robert Knox

Historical Materialism, 2023

The question of capitalism’s relationship to issues of race, racism and processes of racialisati... more The question of capitalism’s relationship to issues of race, racism and processes of racialisation has become increasingly prominent in contemporary debates. This special issue of Historical Materialism on ‘Race and Capital’ seeks to intervene in these debates. In this Introduction, we situate the special issue within this wider political, historical and theoretical context. We begin by reconstructing some of the key ten- sions and fault lines within contemporary discussions of race and racism, particularly in relation to the Marxist tradition. Against those who claim a primarily oppositional relationship between the Marxist tradition and anti-racist thinking, we chart a historical account of key moments in which Marxist movements and thinkers have attempted to articulate distinctively historical-materialist accounts of race and racism. We then situate the key themes of the special issue – and the various articles that compose the issue – against this background.

Sectoral Market Power in Global Production: A Theoretical and Observational Study

by Ashok Kumar and Giorgos Galanis

Advances in Complex Systems, 2022

In a globalized world, the distribution of value-added across¯rms depends on a number of factors ... more In a globalized world, the distribution of value-added across¯rms depends on a number of factors that vary across space. A key factor is related to the di®erent types of competition on the multilayer structure of production, which are characterized by di®erent types of (market) power. In this paper, we¯rst argue that PageRank centrality is able to capture sectoral market power within the complex structure of global production. We then study the empirical properties of this market power measure and demonstrate a power-law relationship between sectoral PageRank centrality and relative sectoral pro¯ts. This power-law relationship has (international) political economy implications as it demonstrates the high incentives of sectors to become more central to increase their relative pro¯ts.

China's Reforms as Class Compromise, On Shifting Foundations Symposium

Urban Studies, 2021

A Dynamic Model of Global Value Network Governance

Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 2021

This paper presents a novel understanding of the changing governance structures in global supply ... more This paper presents a novel understanding of the changing governance structures in global supply chains. Motivated by the global garment sector, we develop a geographical political economy dynamic model that reflects the interaction between bargaining power and distribution of value among buyer and producer firms. We find that the interplay between these two forces, in combination with the spatial specificities of global production and consolidation, can drive governance structures towards a more symbiotic position.

A Race from the Bottom? Lessons from a workers' struggle at a Bangalore warehouse

Competition and Change, 2019

This paper analyses the emergence of the 'full package' firm in India and its implications for wo... more This paper analyses the emergence of the 'full package' firm in India and its implications for workers' strategies. A 'full package' firm expands outward, from low-value assembly-only products to high-value specialized garment production; consolidating under one roof. Historically, geographic and political barriers separated centres of value-creation (producers) and value-capture (brands and retailers) in the global garment sector. However, enhanced value-capture at the point of production has led to considerable consolidation organizationally, giving an increasingly symbiotic character to relationships within 'buyer driven' supply chains. Though this change aggregates the bargaining power of workers, it also introduces new obstacles to workers' organization. The concomitant rise of supplier-end value capture allows garment trade unions to nonetheless demand greater shares. Thus, previously unviable modes and methods have become available to workers engaged in struggles with their employers in the globalized garment sector. This paper examines a protracted workers' struggle in light of this process. In doing so, the paper demonstrates that codes of conduct and auditing alone cannot significantly impact labour standards because the needs of capital accumulation are greater than the threat posed by any auditing program or code. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that labour rights within the garment GVC will not arrive through a rights-based approach-though strong codes of conduct and independent auditing can assist-but rather through a combination of an increased power of suppliers visa `-vis buyers, greater workers' bargaining power with their direct employers , and-critically-workers' self organization.

Oligopolistic Suppliers, Symbiotic Value Chains and Workers' Bargaining Power: labour contestation in South China at an ascendant global footwear firm

Global Networks, 2019

In this article, I analyse changes in the power relationship between lead firms, manufacturers an... more In this article, I analyse changes in the power relationship between lead firms, manufacturers and workers by examining a strike that took place in South China in 2014 among workers at the Taiwanese footwear giant, Yue Yuen. In the process, I demonstrate that there is a link between increased labour costs, capital consolidation and greater value capture at the bottom of the global supply chain. I argue that footwear value chains are seeing a falling level of monopsony power and the emergence of enormous oligopolistic suppliers, which are transforming the power imbalances of global supply chains towards a more mutually dependent ‘buyer–producer symbiosis’. The Yue Yuen strike shows a maturing industrial working class, facing pressures on social reproduction in China, adapting its bargaining strategies vis-à-vis the developmental state. Influxes of profit raise the ceiling for what can be demanded of employers, stimulating those same employers to pursue more aggressive means of holding onto their profits. The example of the Yue Yuen strike is an indicator of what are fundamental changes in the production process, dynamics within the value chain, and power and agency of workers in labour-intensive production. The strike demonstrates that consolidation is playing a decisive role in shaping the power relationship between domestic manufacturers and transnational brands, which, in turn, is directly affecting the bargaining power of workers.

Identity Politics: Marxist Interventions into Contemporary Debates (Chinese translation by Chen Houliang and Wang Yaping)

Foreign Theoretical Trends Journal, 2019

Identity Politics: Marxist Interventions into Contemporary Debates is translated into Chinese tra... more Identity Politics: Marxist Interventions into Contemporary Debates is translated into Chinese translation by Chen Houliang and Wang Yaping for the journal Foreign Theoretical Trends. The full original issue was published in Historical Materialism and is freely available at http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/special-issue/issue-262-identity-politics

An Introduction to Identity Politics

by Ashok Kumar and Shruti Iyer

Historical Materialism, 2018

This special issue responds to ongoing debates around what has been termed ‘identity politics’. W... more This special issue responds to ongoing debates around what has been termed ‘identity politics’. We aim to intervene in what are make-or-break questions for the Left today. Specifically, we wish to provoke further interrogative but comradely conversation that works towards breaking-down the wedge between vulgar economism and vulgar culturalism. Critically, we maintain that just as all identity categories are spatially and temporally contingent – socially constructed, yet naturalised – so too is this current bifurcation between ‘class politics’ and ‘identity politics’. Ultimately, we call for an intellectual and organisational embracing of the complexity of identity as it figures in contemporary conditions; being a core organising-principle of capitalism as it functions today, a paradigm that Leftist struggle can be organised through and around – and yet all with a recognition of the necessity of historicising, and ultimately abolishing, these categories along with capitalism itself.

Primitive Accumulation and Resistance under Globalized Capital

by Lisa Tilley, Ashok Kumar, and Thomas Cowan

In the global present, violent conflict, crisis and austerity politics, and corporate expansion a... more In the global present, violent conflict, crisis and austerity politics, and corporate expansion are forcing new and reworked forms of dispossession and enclosure, but also kindling new and reworked modes of resistance. The violence of what Marx referred to as ‘primitive accumulation’—the transformation of the social means of pro- duction into capital by means of mass dispos- session—would therefore appear to be very much alive in our times. This special feature has been conceived to consider the extent to which the concept of primitive accumulation has analytical purchase in the present, the degree to which it requires adjustment, and the ways in which peasant and Indigenous critiques demand its reformulation or even its abandonment. In Marx’s formulation, itself adapted from that of Adam Smith, primitive accumulation described the pro- cesses by which the capitalist mode of pro- duction is violently instigated. Marx’s theory further relied on a dual aspect by which separation from the land in the form of dispossession, along with integration into the labour market in the form of proletariani- sation, combine simultaneously to violently dislocate Indigenous and other non-capitalist communities from their diverse, often com- munitarian and self-sufficient, means of production.

The papers brought together within this special feature variously interrogate four pro- minent points of contention in Marx’s orig- inal theorisation. The first of these is the temporal assumption invested in primitive accumulation as a set of originary processes occurring to instigate capitalist integration; processes which are therefore understood to be prior to, and separate from, subsequent patterns of accumulation. Vital adjustments of Marx’s work have sought to correct this temporal restriction and bring dispossession within broader theories of accumulation by drawing attention to the repetitive and ongoing enclosures found broadly across the global economy (e.g. De Angelis 2001; Harvey 2004; Kropotkin and Shatz 1995).

Workers Hemming Down Transnational Capital

by Ashok Kumar and Jack Mahoney

Journal of Labour and Society, Jun 2014

Fatal disasters in Bangladesh garment factories demand we learn from recent anti-sweatshop breakt... more Fatal disasters in Bangladesh garment factories demand we learn from recent anti-sweatshop breakthroughs. Beginning in 2007, workers at Fruit Of The Loom (FOTL) factories in Honduras built a uniquely successful global campaign. FOTL closed a factory and laid off 1,200 workers in response to workers’ efforts to improve working conditions, a textbook move in the industry’s “race to the bottom.” But nine months later, after the largest collegiate boycott in history, FOTL reopened the factory and extended union neutrality to all its Honduran factories. We argue that the campaign, which resulted in a reversal of the transnational’s decision to abandon the unionized factory and the direct negotiation between FOTL top executives and workers, provides an unprecedented model for labor to rein in the apparel industry’s hyper-mobile capital. Since their negotiated agreement with FOTL, workers have won significant improvements in wages and working conditions, and inspired groundbreaking new campaigns to challenge the transnationals whose products they assemble.

Building a Labour Countermovement

City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, Nov 2014

This paper approaches globalisation as a contradictory and dialectical phenomenon, one in which t... more This paper approaches globalisation as a contradictory and dialectical phenomenon, one in which the tools of exploitation are being subverted into instruments of labour resistance. Through a study of the Garment And Textile Workers’ Union (GATWU) the paper observes how feminised workplaces are bringing to the fore issues of gender oppression alongside exploitation, informalised workplaces are expanding organisational capacity from the shopfloor into community struggles, and the universality of capital has led to transnational links between workers. While the global neoliberal regime weakens traditional paths to unionisation, it has concurrently facilitated alternative strategies of worker organisation and resistance. GATWU members both battle immediate economic issues while transforming worker organisation from an atomised factory workstation, to assembly line, to outside the factory gates, and finally into social movement and transnational spaces. The research takes note of how GATWUs organising strategy both supplements and comes in conflict with struggles of gender and class, the local and global.

Global Workers’ Rights through Capitalist Institutions? An Irreconcilable Proposition

Historical Materialism Journal, Sep 2015

In Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India, Rohini Hensman maintains that glob... more In Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India, Rohini Hensman maintains that globalisation has afforded workers new opportunities for confronting capitalist exploitation. Using India as a point of departure, Hensman highlights globalisation as paradoxical, challenging anti-globalisers and the globalisation-as-imperialism thesis, to argue that capital’s toilers are now becoming its gravediggers. This analysis also explains why the World Trade Organization (WTO) is so appealing to Hensman: a quintessence of capitalism’s contradictions. Hensman argues for both transnational solidarity and independent trade unions, embodied in the ‘employees’ unions’ of India, as well as in favour of the WTO’s ‘social clause’ amendment, in which the global exploiter is transformed into an arbiter of workers’ rights. The review maintains that the terms of Hensman’s twin position are impossible to reconcile. It evinces an underlying contradiction between opportunistic statism and a conception of revolutionary strategy predicated on action ‘from below’.

Labour and Resistance across Global Spaces

by Ashok Kumar and Amber Murrey

City, Nov 2014

Securing The Security

City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, Jun 2014

Review of Jamie McCallum’s Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Orga... more

Atoning for the Past

Responding to Abhijit Sarkar’s “Rhodes Will Not Fall Alone” the authors argue that the aim of the... more

The Politics of Identity

Historical Materialism

We propose a special issue on Identity Politics that will be rigorous, grounded, and contributes... more We propose a special issue on Identity Politics that will be rigorous, grounded, and contributes to theory and praxis, and encourage papers that make theoretical contributions both within and outside the European tradition. We acknowledge that academia has traditionally excluded voices from the margins and encourage submissions in forms of writing both within and outside white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words submitted by email to [email protected] by April 20th, 2016.

Peasant and Indigenous Struggles, Primitive Accumulation, and Global Capital

This Call for Abstracts has ended. The Issue is expected in Autumn/Winter 2016.

Labour Pains: Resistance Across Global Spaces

Published in 2015.

Les Jeux olympiques de Londres: une destruction créatrice

La Coupe Est Pleine! Les désastres économiques et sociaux des grands événements sportifs, 2013

Wisconsin Is Global – The Shape of Things to Come

by Ashok Kumar and Simon Hardy

It Started in Wisconsin: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Labor Protest, 2012

Achievements & Limitations of the UK Student Movement

The Assault on Universities: A Manifesto for Resistance, 2011

Past and Present: the London School of Economics

Springtime: The New Student Rebellions, 2011

Urbanization [in The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory]

Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 2017

International Ladies’ Garments Workers’ Union [in Chinese Americans: The History and Culture of a People]

Chinese Americans: The History and Culture of a People, 2015

Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance [in Chinese Americans: The History and Culture of a People]

Chinese Americans: The History and Culture of a People, 2015

Birkbeck Explains: What is Monopsony?

Bristol Transformed: Monopsony Capitalism book talk

HM London 2019: Monopsony Capitalism

Historical Materialism, 2019

Taster Session of Monopsony Capitalism at HM London, November 2019 Ashok Kumar (author) Rob Knox... more

Russia Today: interview on Monopsony Capitalism

BBC: Agricultural Reforms and Farmers Protests

BBC, 2020

BBC: US pulls out and imminent attack by Turkey on the Kurds

BBC

Sky: India's Annexation of Kashmir

Sky News, 2019

Sky: US-Britain Special Relationship Debate

Sky: 2nd Brexit referendum

Sky: Tony Blair and The Hague

Sky: Labour Anti-Semitism

Sky: Is the far right on the rise?

Sky: Banks, Brexit and NATO

Sky: Israel Arms and BDS

Ashok Kumar and Ceri Dingle argue over UKs record-backing profits through the selling of arms to ... more

Sky: Russia Hysteria and Palestinian Protesters Killed

Sky: Young Labour, AWL & Lecturers Strikes

Sky: UCU Lecturers Discussed

How Democracy Works

Discussion on momentum on Sky morning paper review

Renationalisation: Sky Debate with John McDonnell, Ashok Kumar and Petrie Hosken

Debate over renationalization and democratization or British utilities and services

Sky Sunrise Paper Review: Ashok Kumar and Petrie Hoskens

Ashok and Petrie discuss council budgets, coup in Zimbabwe, PC madness, picky eaters, votes for 1... more

BBC Business World: French strikes and unemployment figures

Sky Morning Paper Review

June 3rd, 2017 - discussing Corbyn, Nuclear Weapons, IRA, Taxes etc

BBC World Business: Headlines in Review

Review of the business headlines including 'independent contractors' workers' rights case, greek ... more

Network Configuration as a Measure of Power in Global Production Networks

by Panagiotis (Takis) Iliopoulos and Ashok Kumar

LEM Working Paper Series, May 16, 2020

Power is one of the key components in understanding and analyzing global production and is centra... more Power is one of the key components in understanding and analyzing global production and is central to the analytical frameworks of both GVCs and GPNs. By focusing on firms' power within GPNs, we are able to draw a novel analytical link between the governance structures of GVCs and network configuration presented in recent versions of GPNs. Using global input-output data, we show that the network structure of global production helps determine the distribution of power among firms in different economic sectors and, consequently, it influences the governance structures of supply networks. More specifically, we find a very high correlation between the distribution of profits and a sector's position in global production, captured by its (total strength) centrality. Based on this, we are able to provide a quantitative measure of power within global production and its governance structures.

A Dynamic Spatial Model of Global Governance Structures

by Ashok Kumar and Giorgos Galanis

Post Keynesian Economics Study Group [Working Paper 1804], 2018

This paper presents a novel understanding of the changing governance structures in global supply ... more This paper presents a novel understanding of the changing governance structures in global supply chains. Motivated by the global garment sector, we develop a geographical political economy dynamic model which reflects the interaction between bargaining power and distribution of value among buyer and producer firms. We find that the interplay between these two forces, in combination with the spatial specificities of global production, are necessary and sufficient to drive governance structures towards an intermediate position regarding their level of explicit coordination and power asymmetry.

The devaluation of the Chinese yuan marks a crisis in capitalism

The currency has been weakened to increase exports in order to stave off the inevitable crisis fa... more

Eye for an eye and the whole world can see: state violence, street justice

Mute Magazine, Dec 22, 2014

Political violence doesn't happen in isolation. If you already knew that, pay attention as Alex G... more Political violence doesn't happen in isolation. If you already knew that, pay attention as Alex Gawenda and Political violence doesn't happen in isolation. If you already knew that, pay attention as Alex Gawenda and Ashok Kumar connect Nat Turner, Ranajit Guha, black Zimbabweans' hands-on land reform, firebombed Nottingham police stations and other 'outrages' to prove that what it means is not so anodyne. Some subalterns would rather 'blow up Gordian knots' than humbly petition against the global distribution of class and racial bloodletting. And they couldn't care less if you think their hearts are in the right place.

The smear campaign against Lutfur Rahman is an insult to democracy

The Guardian, May 30, 2014

Tower Hamlets: The Last Outpost of the Raj Falls

Ceasefire Magazine, May 27, 2014

Books White People Should Read in Preparation for becoming a Minority in Britain

NovaraWire

Reasons the Strike in China is Terrifying! (to Transnational Capital)

NovaraWire

Race, Class and the Price of Policing

OpenDemocracy, Jan 14, 2014

Red Pepper Magazine, Jul 2013

Made In Post-China

CounterPunch & Libcom, Jun 14, 2013

Savar Factory Collapse is Another Corporate Tragedy

AntiCapitalist Initiative , Apr 25, 2013

A Contract to End Sweatshops

CounterPunch, Mar 12, 2013

Fighting Fire with Fire

Ceasefire Magazine & Znet, Feb 15, 2013

The Rise (and Fall?) of Adidas

Ceasefire Magazine & Znet, Jul 20, 2012

Special Report | NATO Summit Protests – Chicago 2012

Ceasefire Magazine, May 27, 2012

The Olympics: Beacon of Capitalism or Triumph of Sport

Oxford Student, May 25, 2012

Want to cleanse your city of its poor? Host the Olympics

Ceasefire Magazine, Apr 12, 2012

Reflections on Kony: Women and Children as Handmaidens of Colonialism

AntCapitalist Initiative, May 3, 2012

Troy Davis execution stands in US tradition of racist lynching

Socialist Worker, Sep 24, 2011

Winter of Discontent

Left Turn Magazine, Mar 11, 2011

Unruly Protest: Book Review of "Fight Back"

Red Pepper Magazine, Aug 2011

"Did We Change Anything?" Evaluating the Effectiveness of the 2010 UK Student Protests

Towards a buyer-suppler symbiosis and what it means for workers: A study of supplier-end monopoly capital in the garment-sector through workers’ struggle in China and India

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, China has seen an escalation of labor unrest and spike in... more Since the 2008 global financial crisis, China has seen an escalation of labor unrest and spike in wages (Friedman 2012) throughout China where ‘bosses are short of workers and workers are short of patience’ (The Economist 2010). Indeed, cheap Chinese labor drove the engine of global capital into the twenty-first century, as Jacques Ranciere put it, ‘The domination of capitalism globally depends today on the existence of a Chinese Communist party that gives de-localised capitalist enterprises cheap labor to lower prices and deprive workers of the rights of self-organisation.’ Thus, the changing political economy and growing workers’ consciousness may open new opportunities for innovative tactics, strategies and organisation to win power at the workplace, countering the popular Žižekian (1998) claim of ‘capitalism with Asian values’ (read: subservience).

China and India’s economic prowess diverged as recently as the late 1980s, as The Economist (‘Contest of the Century’ 2010) notes ‘as recently as the early 1990s, India was as rich, in terms of national income per head. China then hurtled so far ahead that it seemed India could never catch up.’ That trajectory looks to be changing. In 2012 reports of a continued decline in Chinese manufacturing followed a wave of strikes and riots that began in 2010 (Barboza 2012), and Eli Friedman (2012) commented that ‘by the end of the 2010, Chinese media commentators were declaring that the era of low-wage had come to an end.’ This began a period of capital flight out of China (Kumar and Gawenda 2013). Some have argued that with its growing importance in the global economy the next choicest option after China is India (Frank 1998; Winters and Yusuf 2007) which is expected to outpace China’s ageing labor force within the next two decades (Bloom 2011).

The paper argues that the post-China global economy is undergoing a twilight of what Harvey (2006) calls the ‘spatial fix’ and consequently an emergence of new ‘organisational fixes’ in the garment production process. These changes in the configuration supplier-end capital will be used as a point of entry to analyse the materiality of workers’ struggles in India and China. The research concludes by countering the claim by Gereffi (1999) that labor-intensive garment production is decidedly ‘buyer-driven’. The research finds that specifically specialised production has undergone a concentration of supplier-end capital and, for the first time, the appearance of quasi-monopoly large-scale producers. The effect is greater value-capture at the bottom of the supply chain, opening up the prospect of workers in the sector who have historically remained largely powerless to efficaciously target their direct employers, given the spatial divide between value-capturing transnational brands and value-producing workplaces

The paper is based on comparative research between major shoe-supplier Po Chen and its strike at its Yue Yuen facility in April 2014 and the workers struggle at denim-producing Arvind Mills distribution site in Ramnaragara in the outskirts of Bangalore in 2013. The research is based the experiences as an organiser of the international solidarity campaign with the Yue Yuen strike, interviews with Chinese labor activists, as a translator for the Workers’ Rights Consortium in South India, as well as six months between 2012-2013 as a union organiser in the Bangalore-based Garment And Textile Workers’ Union.

Barboza, David. 2012. “China’s Economy Slows as Exports and New Orders Decline.” The New York Times, August 1, sec. Business Day / Global Business. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/business/global/in-china-manufacturing-growth-still-slumps.html.
Bloom, D.E. 2011. “7 Billion and Counting.” Science 333 (6042): 562.
“Contest of the Century.” 2010. The Economist, August.
Frank, A.G. 1998. ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age. Univ of California Pr.
Friedman, Eli. 2012. “China in Revolt.” Jacobin.
Gereffi, G. 1999. “International Trade and Industrial Upgrading in the Apparel Commodity Chain.” Journal of International Economics 48 (1): 37–70.
Harvey, David. 2006. The Limits to Capital. Verso Books.
Kumar, Ashok, and Alex Gawenda. 2013. “Made in Post-China.” Counterpunch, June. http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/14/made-in-post-china/.
The Economist. 2010. “World Economy: The Rising Power of the Chinese Worker”, July 29. http://www.economist.com/node/16693333.
Winters, L.A., and S. Yusuf. 2007. Dancing with Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy. World Bank Publications.
Žižek, S. 1998. “For a Leftist Appropriation of the European Legacy.” Journal of Political Ideologies 3 (1): 63–78.

Co-Convener: Geographies of Neoliberalism and Resistance: The State, Violence and Labour

Bridging Space: how Honduran workers at Russell Athletic shifted the global race to the bottom

North American Labor History Conference, Oct 26, 2013

This paper explores efforts by workers at Fruit Of The Loom (FOTL) factories in Honduras and the ... more This paper explores efforts by workers at Fruit Of The Loom (FOTL) factories in Honduras and the global campaign network they built, from 2007 through the present, to determine whether it can serve as an instructive model of transnational solidarity. This is presented under the backdrop of the seemingly insurmountable challenge of trade union organization in the world’s most labor-intensive highly tradable industries, in this case the garment sector, in an era of globalized capital. The campaign led to over one hundred universities terminating or suspending their contracts with FOTL valued in the tens of millions of dollars. The collegiate boycott in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom became the largest since the anti-apartheid movement, and the largest of an apparel company in history. The campaign resulted in an unprecedented reversal of capital mobility. Nine months after closing its only unionized factory, Jerzees De Honduras (JDH), FOTL signed an agreement directly with the Honduran union to reopen the factory, rehire all 1,200 workers, a multi-million dollar payout, and an agreement to extend union neutrality and access to all of its facilities in Honduras. Since then, workers and management of the reopened factory negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with major wage increases and other benefits, and workers at two more Honduran FOTL factories are in the process of negotiating for similar improvements. Unlike most comparable campaigns we argue that despite the crucially important participation of various groups in the “global north” the Honduran workers remained the protagonists throughout the campaign, both in public and at the negotiating table. The fired workers maintained a highly participatory union structure despite nine months of unemployment. They sent delegates to universities in the US and UK to convince administrators to sever FOTL contracts, to speak at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting (popularly called “Woodstock for capitalists”), and even to knock on Buffett's front door. Perhaps more importantly, the ultimate agreement was bargained face-to-face between the fired workers and FOTL top executives, and has resulted in workers from at least three FOTL factories entering collective bargaining, to date. The paper begins by determining the campaign rate of success by quantitatively and qualitatively comparing targeted factories with other garment factories in Honduras, the region, and across the globe. We conclude that the FOTL campaign represents one of the only cases of unionizing, bargaining, and significant raises in wages in the entire global garment industry. We then identify the distinguishing features of FOTL in comparison to other anti-sweatshop global solidarity campaigns. Ultimately, the paper takes account of emerging economic realities represented in the FOTL campaign to call into question assumptions around the north-south divide, the reemergence of an industrial “worker-consumer”, and how shifting global dynamics inform future international labor solidarity campaigns in the garment sector.

A Contract to End Sweatshops: Case Study of the Transnational Campaign for an Adidas Brand Agreement

On February 10th 2013, while activists in Manhattan boisterously protested the New York Fashion W... more On February 10th 2013, while activists in Manhattan boisterously protested the New York Fashion Week brand Adidas runway, workers in Adidas subcontracted factories in eight countries across the world delivered a single demand to their bosses. The demand was for a Brand Agreement, which included union recognition, collective bargaining, increased wages and improved conditions. It comes nearly a century after the Brand Agreement (first called a “Jobbers Agreement”) was introduced blocks away from this year’s Fashion Week venue, revolutionizing the domestic garment industry by circumventing factory owners, and ending sweatshops for good.

This paper comes at the end of five months of participant observation with South India’s garment sector trade unions and as an organizer in the international campaign. The research looks at the formation of the International Union League of Adidas Workers, their organizing structure, strategy and tactics. The paper digs deeper into the coalescing of organic demands actualised from disparate conditions and the historical path that led to this organizational reality. Ultimately it aims to answer, at both a theoretical and practical level, the question of how workers can become organised, extracting higher wages and improved conditions from employers/brands, in a global regime of mobile capital.

Transnational Campaigns and the Prospect of International Collective Bargaining

Participatory Action Research and Labor Geography

Methods & Action Conference, Jan 6, 2013

Book Review of Monopsony Capitalism

Industrial and Labor Review, 2022

Monopsony Capitalism is ambitious, engaging, and provocative, revealing much about the dynamics o... more Monopsony Capitalism is ambitious, engaging, and provocative, revealing much about the dynamics of conflict and regulation, mainly in the global garment industry. The title refers to power relations becoming less unequal between buyers (brands and retailers) and suppliers (manufacturers) in transnational supply chains. Garment production has always featured external contracting, with buyers having the upper hand. A high degree of monopsony power (DMP) is predicated on ease of entry into the industry and buyers' ability to switch purchases to lower-cost sites. However, Ashok Kumar argues that this "race to the bottom" can be reversed by workers taking advantage of declining DMP, that is, growing supplier power when restrictions on international trade are lifted and markets expand. Monopsony Capitalism explores this proposition with the intention of eliminating sweatshops. Kumar marshals evidence from various sources to interpret changes in garment supply chain relationships. These resources include a historical review of the US garment industry's regulation system, analysis of trends in global value chain (GVC) governance, and three contemporary case studies of industrial conflict at large suppliers. He contends that garment buyer-supplier relations are becoming less unequal or "symbiotic," enabling workers to organize and bargain more effectively. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on evolution of global garment chain governance and international differences in regulation. Kumar highlights the disproportionate value appropriated by buyers in contrast to suppliers, based on relations that weak states are unable to change. Reviewing the GVC governance literature, the author argues that workers are squeezed between powerful buyers and weak suppliers. This relationship leads to increasing violations of core labor standards despite codes and certification programs, consumer-led campaigns, and clauses in trade agreements. Kumar favors an international worker organization operating in a favorable structural context comprising tight labor markets, skill shortages, and the presence of large, innovative, profitable "full package" (i.e., pattern creation to product) suppliers who forge symbiotic, long-term relations with buyers. However, collective regulation by workers has had mixed results. Kumar notes deficiencies in global framework agreements and claims that the European social partnership bargaining model has "largely proved fruitless" (p. 59). More promising is the organizing model inspired by postwar US garment regulation, in which buyers (jobbers), sellers (contractors), and strongly organized unions negotiated mutually reinforcing contracts that ensured jobbers' prices were compatible with agreed wages and conditions. This system eventually unraveled, partly because legal changes permitted contractors to relocate to union-free Southern states, and later in 1963, a change in the US Tariff Code enabled production to be undertaken in South America. Kumar concludes that effective organizing requires control over transnational factory flexibility, high union density, and the capacity to mobilize workers in support of buyer-supplier-union collective bargaining. These characteristics are more likely when suppliers have sufficient power to maintain symbiotic relationships with buyers. In the following three chapters, the author presents case studies of worker mobilization and industrial conflict in workplaces of powerful suppliers. Yue Yuen, headquartered in Taiwan, is one of the largest, most profitable, full package footwear suppliers to major brands. In the context of a tight labor market, frequent strikes, and favorable legislation in China, workers at Yue Yuen's Gaobu factory complex in 2014 walked out, demanding social 1108113I LRXXX10.

Review of Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age

by Ashok Kumar and Kean Fan Lim

AAG Review of Books, 2021

AAG review of books review of Monopsony Capitalism by Kean Fan Lim

Review of Monopsony Capitalism (Red Pepper)

Red Pepper, 2020