Abstract:
This paper analyses the extent to which international regimes on production and trade in
apparel offer labour upgrading opportunities in Kenya under the regime on labour. Focussing
on the African Growth and Opportunity Act’s labour conditionalities, it presents evidence to
show that, apart from the non-employment of children, other conditionalities on wages, hours
of work, occupational safety and health, forced labour and right of association and right to
organise and bargain collectively have not been met fully. Employing a dependency reading
of regimes, the paper argues that the governance of regimes on production and trade in
apparel, while not a necessary condition, was a sufficient condition to account for this trend.
This evidence implies that Sub Saharan African countries need to overcome a lack of strategic
reading of the dependency embedded within international regimes, while social movements
and their sympathisers need to demand the full implementation of minimum labour
conditions.
