Made in Ethiopia - but at Whose Expense? Unveiling the Working Conditions and Legitimizations of Labor Control Regimes in Ethiopian Garment Industries.

In the last two decades, Ethiopia has emerged as one of the destinations of apparel suppliers in the Global Production Network (henceforth, GPN). Notwithstanding their positive roles, the industries have been criticized for the poor working conditions. This study examines how the labor agency shapes and being shaped by different labor control regimes and how various state and non-state actors have involved in legitimizing the labor control regimes and poor working conditions in the park. To do so, the study utilizes the Legitimacy Theory to expand analytical lens of the Labor Control Regimes (LCR) in the GPN. To accomplish this, the study employs a case study method focusing on one of the industrial clusters in Ethiopia—the Hawassa Industrial Park. The study conducted 63 semi-structured interviews involving workers, trade union leaders, human resources managers, government officials, and NGOs leaders. The findings of the study highlight the state-capital alliance at both local and national levels has created a conducive environment for the implementation of coercive and non-coercive labor control mechanisms within factory settings. The structured LCR are upheld through narratives from actors like trade unions, government, and NGOs. These actors use four strategies—normalization, rationalization, moralization, and authorization—to justify poor working conditions and labor control. These tactics have enabled capital to both secure and obscure labor exploitation at the factory level. Thus, the findings of the study imply the legitimization and justification of labor exploitation at factory level, is backed by actors and practices outside the factory setting at local, national, and global level. Theoretically, the study expands the consent manufacturing process in the Labor Control Regimes in the GPN by integrating the legitimization strategies, an area that has been scantly studied.