Bezuidenhout A., Khunou G., Mosoetsa S., Sutherland K., Thoburn J.
Sociology of Work Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
Bezuidenhout, A., Sociology of Work Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Khunou, G., Sociology of Work Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Mosoetsa, S., Sociology of Work Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Sutherland, K., School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom; Thoburn, J., School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
This paper addresses an important but often neglected theme in debates on globalisation - the consequences for workers of engagement in global markets, particularly for those workers who are retrenched in the process. Using the South African textiles industry as a case study, the paper investigates the impact on workers' household livelihoods of industrial restructuring following trade liberalisation in the 1990s. Interviews with textile workers and retrenched textile workers were conducted in five locations in three provinces - the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal - in order to capture different local dynamics. Workers employed in textiles generally enjoy a relatively stable formal sector wage, which, though less than the manufacturing average, is well above the national poverty line. However, the benefits were not evenly spread between the regions and job insecurity has been increasing. Workers retrenched from textile employment have faced extreme difficulties in a country with exceptionally high levels of open unemployment, and many families have fallen into deep poverty, which may now be transmitted intergenerationally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.