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Labour process and workers' bargaining power in export grape production, North East Brazil

Labour process and workers' bargaining power in export grape production, North East Brazil
Labour process and workers' bargaining power in export grape production, North East Brazil
This article uses the Global Commodity Chain (GCC) framework to investigate labour regimes in export grape production in the São Francisco (SF) valley, North East Brazil. A combination of strict northern retailer requirements and producers’ ability to target export windows leads to an increasingly complex labour process. Whilst much GCC literature focusing on export agriculture concludes that labour is relatively powerless, this article presents a rather different case. The need to upgrade production continually in response to retailers’ demands gives workers strategic leverage which, together with a strong and continuing tradition of rural trade union organization, means that they have been able to extract significant concessions from exporting farms.
agricultural labour, global commodity chains, grape production, north east brazil
1471-0358
526-553
Selwyn, B.
02050627-e751-4085-a866-bc6ba0a7dc82
Selwyn, B.
02050627-e751-4085-a866-bc6ba0a7dc82

Selwyn, B. (2007) Labour process and workers' bargaining power in export grape production, North East Brazil. Journal of Agrarian Change, 7 (4), 526-553. (doi:10.1111/j.1471-0366.2007.00155.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article uses the Global Commodity Chain (GCC) framework to investigate labour regimes in export grape production in the São Francisco (SF) valley, North East Brazil. A combination of strict northern retailer requirements and producers’ ability to target export windows leads to an increasingly complex labour process. Whilst much GCC literature focusing on export agriculture concludes that labour is relatively powerless, this article presents a rather different case. The need to upgrade production continually in response to retailers’ demands gives workers strategic leverage which, together with a strong and continuing tradition of rural trade union organization, means that they have been able to extract significant concessions from exporting farms.

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More information

Published date: October 2007
Keywords: agricultural labour, global commodity chains, grape production, north east brazil

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 47489
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/47489
ISSN: 1471-0358
PURE UUID: 339ef66f-9a7c-47de-8af7-0ddb51d9708a

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Date deposited: 02 Aug 2007
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 09:33

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Author: B. Selwyn

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