ABSTRACT
This chapter builds on earlier work on dominant narratives around the garment industry as they inform transnational policies and practices of solidarity. This chapter argues, hegemonic Euro-American framings of “the problem” privilege some issues while occluding or dismissing others. The emergence of the Accord-Alliance “solution” and corresponding ILO initiatives to form factory-level unions illustrate the limited nature of such interventions. Both leave untouched long-term structural issues that fundamentally shape workers’ experiences on the shop floor and with respect to organizing. This chapter shows how evoking the rhetoric of the garment industry’s survival being a question of national interest allows the state to create a space of exception where routine labor laws do not apply.
