Tom Barnes

Labour Contractors and Global Production Networks: The Case of India’s Auto Supply Chain

Abstract Research on labour in global production networks has raised serious questions about the role played by labour contractors. This article uses a case study of automotive components production in north India to show how labour contractors assist firms to adapt to the rigours of competition in supply chains. We demonstrate that a regional contract labour system has enabled employers to keep wages low, increase firm flexibility, offload the burden of monitoring and controlling workers and undermine collective bargaining and trade union rights. These problems further expose serious weaknesses in the implementation and enforcement of labour laws in India.

Employment, spillovers and ‘decent work’: Challenging the Productivity Commission’s auto industry narrative

The 2013 and 2014 announcements by major car manufacturers that they would wind down all their remaining Australian automotive operations by 2016/2017 pre-empted the March 2014 release of the Productivity Commission’s final report into motor vehicle manufacturing. The Commission suggested that government subsidies had only delayed car plant closures and reiterated its longstanding opposition to industry policy and redistributive regional adjustment programmes by government. Industrialists, employer associations, state governments and trade unions have, however, questioned the Commission’s forecasts for both economic spillover effects and social impacts in regions affected by automotive plant closures. In addition to challenging several underlying assumptions used to calculate the Productivity Commission’s forecasts, this article argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the quality of future work. It extends insights from previous studies of industrial decline by proposing a new research agenda based on the idea of ‘social spillovers’.

The IT industry, employment and informality in India: Challenging the conventional narrative

The IT industry has been portrayed as instrumental to India’s transition to a high-growth economy. But critics argue that it has delivered few benefits to the wider population. In this context, industry advocates have drawn attention to the direct and indirect impact of IT on output and employment. This article critically explores these claims by locating them in the conventional (neoliberal) narrative of India’s recent economic development. It finds that industry claims are exaggerated and that IT industry demand is often linked to the creation of employment in industries dominated by informal employment arrangements. The prevalence of informal employment highlights problems of low pay and poor or hazardous working conditions. The IT industry’s rise to prominence has traversed a deeply ingrained process of labour market informalisation. In exaggerating the employment-generating capacity of the IT industry, its supporters have largely ignored problems relating to the quality of employment.

From economic rationalism to global neoliberalism? Marking 25 years since Economic Rationalism in Canberra

Despite the impact of global economic crises and, more recently, the international shockwave of populism, neoliberalism persists as a framework for policies, policymakers and social orders. In Australia, debate about neoliberalism was largely initiated by the publication of Economic Rationalism in Canberra in 1991. This special section of the Journal of Sociology has been compiled to mark the impact of this seminal text over the past quarter of a century. The contributions to this section outline the evolution and transformative impact of neoliberalism locally and globally, and especially highlight current work by early-career researchers in Australia. As well as acknowledging competing interpretations of neoliberalism, this introduction summarises emerging scholarship in economic sociology by focusing on: the rhetoric of policymaking; the rollout of neoliberal policies in Australia and comparisons with international experiences; the impact of neoliberalism on social movements and social activism; and its ongoing role as a frame of reference for everyday work and life.

De facto informality? Rethinking the experience of women in the formally regulated workplace

ABSTRACT This paper argues that characteristics usually associated with informal work, including a lack of protection under the law, diminished voice and agency, are routinely experienced by women in formally regulated workplaces in Australia. Despite a raft of formal legislation to prohibit gender-based discrimination, outlaw gendered violence and promote workplace health and safety, an experience of de facto informality undermines women’s agency to address everyday discrimination and gendered violence at work. This reality is attributed to the patriarchal social norms that dominate in many workplaces, which create challenges for the enforcement of legal regulation and which lead women to tolerate unsatisfactory conditions despite avenues for formal legal protection and compensation. The lens of de facto informality, we argue, highlights the gap between the legislative intent and the lived experience of working women, the limitations of regulation and the need for collective action to address gender inequality and improve women’s capacity to exercise their agency at work.

Why Has the Indian Automotive Industry Reproduced “Low Road” Labour Relations?

Indian policymakers are now centrally concerned with the future of manufacturing as the basis for economic development, prosperity and rising living standards. The automotive industry is pivotal to this transformation. All global carmakers now have major investments in India, often operating alongside major Indian transnational corporations. Key automotive clusters are in the National Capital Region, the Chennai Metropolitan Region and the “Chakan corridor” near the city of Pune, as well as emerging clusters and production facilities in several other parts of the country. Much of the optimism about the auto industry flows from its historically transformative role in Western Europe, the USA and Japan where it sets standards in quality manufacturing, technology, wages and employment relations. Understandably, some have predicted that the expansion of auto production in India should lead to similar “high road” labour relations, based on high wages, long-term employment contracts, stable career paths, social protection and enterprise-based benefits. But the evidence suggests otherwise. The Indian auto industry has instead reproduced “low road” employment relations based upon high wage inequality and employment relations that are over-reliant upon labour contractors. Serious industrial conflict has been common. Given the global developmental promise of the auto industry, why has this happened? Critiquing the global production networks framework from an uneven and combined development perspective, this chapter argues that the answer lies in a combination of India’s distinctive national and regional norms, social relations and institutions with the global carmakers’ governance practices.

Industry policy in Asia’s demographic giants: China, India and Indonesia compared:

The experience of industry policy in the wider Asian region contrasts significantly with many of the neoliberal policy prescriptions prevalent in Australia today. Using the automotive industry as a comparative case study, this article compares industry policy in three demographic and geographic giants of the region: China, India and Indonesia. China’s dominant position has benefited from a highly ‘interventionist’ industry policy which places strict conditions on foreign carmakers in joint ventures. This policy has also influenced the emergence of a thriving domestic industry, with state-owned enterprises leading the way. While India has also emerged as a major auto producer, its industry policy has moved away from the joint venture model since the 1990s, with fully foreign-owned operations now playing a much bigger role. In contrast, Indonesia retains a version of the joint venture model while local industry is dominated by Japanese capital. The record of industry policy in these countries challenges the idea that more ‘liberal’ economic systems lead to stronger domestic industries or firms.

Comparing industrial development in India and China

This article reviews three recent books on the comparative political economy of China and India. Each book addresses the ability of both countries to sustain rapid economic development. Specific issues include the comparison between software and hardware production, the relationship between import substitution and ‘openness’, the emergence of innovation-oriented policies and the role of research in the development process. The article finds that both countries – but India in particular – face obstacles in upgrading to an ‘nnovation-intensive’ model. This concern, however, has to compete for attention with uncompromising arguments against Indias labour market regulations and a one-sided approach to trade and investment openness in both countries. The article also reflects upon the basis for comparative studies of China and India.

Book review: Confronting Global Neo-liberalism: Third World Resistance and Development Strategies, by Richard Westra (ed.)WestraRichard (ed.) Confronting Global Neo-liberalism: Third World Resistance and Development Strategies, Clarity Press: Atlanta, GA, 2010; 276 pp.: 978-0-932863-61-4

the debt owed to Marx and how a reintroduction of the Marxist tradition into the discourse will only further the cause. Although The abcs of the Economic Crisis is short on prescription, the authors proffer a set of principles worth fighting for. These principles undoubtedly would work to right the wrongs of a system ‘rotten to its core’. Moreover, the implementation of the tendered principles would build a more economically equitable and ecologically just society. Ultimately, the promulgation of ideas that demonstrate the unjust nature of capitalism to workers is a critical step toward holding those in Wall Street and Washington more accountable and fostering a more humane and rational world. Magdoff and Yates’s book provides a valuable service in this effort.