III. An Industry on Wheels
The geographical pattern of capital accumulation in the apparel industry serves as a most dramatic illustra- tion of the general post-war trends described in Part I of this Report. Since the advent...
...Nine out of 10 workers producing separate trousers are in non-metropolitan areas...
...So conuder locating in South Carolina...
...The fact that living costs for workers in the South may be lower than in the North (a fact that is very important for the workers) is irrelevant to the capitalist...
...There is a third class of expenses which the capitalist also considers a cost but which is in fact merely the sharing of another capitalist or the government in the surplus-value which his/her capital produces...
...The union shop requires that a worker join the union, if one exists, within a certain period of time after being hired.15 intent of these right-to-work laws is to prohibit all types of "compulsory" union membership...
...These corporations have the marketing power, management and resources to function successfully as both importer and exporter...
...5 Second to raw materials, wages are the biggest cost component of the industry-representing 30 to 40% of total costs depending on the branch of production...
...3 incl...
...As stated earlier, the sales of the four largest apparel firms account for only 5% of the industry total...
...And our rigltto-worE I .l ' insures the right to work regardIhtr of membership or non mnber "ship in any organization...
...No data available for Tennessee...
...Even in these branches, however, such as men's and boys' suits and coats, and women's outerwear, the percentage of production carried on in the South has been steadily rising over the past 10 years (see Table 4...
...and (2) The realization of surplus-value: This involves the attempt to sell the product at prices which will allow the capitalist to retain as much as possible of the surplus value produced...
...In making his/her decisions, s/he sees only the possibility of paying out less in wages and taking more in as profit...
...Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment & Earnings, State and Areas, 1939-74...
...Union workers producing men's and boys' suits and coats averaged $3.46 and non-union workers S3.09...
...According to a study conducted by the American Apparel Manufacturers Association, the cost of machinery and raw materials accounted for better than half the total cost of production...
...The number of workers involved in these strikes was 22,100 in the South and 51,700 in the Northeast...
...Industry Wage Survey, Men's and Boys' Separate Trousers...
...The domestic manufacturer in search of cheap labor has found a haven in the low-wage, non-union South...
...see Table 5) Many U.S...
...Unionization rates are uniformly very low in the Southern states-excluding the mining state of West Virginia...
...This power in turn rests primarily on the degree of centralization within a particular branch of production...
...Comparing the earnings of workers in identical occupational categories, we again find a significant gap between regions...
...TABLE 3 DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY BY REGION AND STATE*(%) Region/State 1950 TOTAL 100.0 NORTHEAST 62.3 Connecticut 2.3 Maine .1 Mass...
...6. Mestre, op...
...By and large, the countries mentioned above as major exporters of apparel and favored sites for U.S...
...primarily general wage increases...
...17 The outcome was a resounding defeat for the amendment...
...Business Week, November 8, 1976...
...In the case of the apparel industry, on the other hand, we have seen that things are quite different...
...Manufacturing jobs that pay wages 40 to 50% lower than wages in the Northeast are coveted by Southern workers who will still be earning more than most of their peers...
...Georgia alone accounts for 15.2% of total employment in this branch-more than any other state-yet only 5-9% of its workers were unionized...
...Empirical data regarding productivity in the apparel industry is non-existent...
...The progressive bundling system involves an operation in which the Sbundles of garments flow in a logical order of work from one operator to another...
...19 In men's and boys' suits and coats, workers in the Southeast were 29% unionized compared to 99% in the Mid-Atlantic region...
...If, for this same period, we compare actual strike activity (number of strikes and number of workers involved in strikes) to what the level of strike activity would have been if strikes were proportionate to regional employment, we would find the following: In every one of the years for which data were available, the Northeast had more than its share of strike activity, while for the South it was just the reverse...
...For the great majority of producers who remain in the United Sates, domestic wage differentials for apparel workers are less dramatic than those between countries, but they are no less meaningful for the drive to increase profits...
...Why has this dramatic shift occurred...
...In plain language, American producers in this laborintensive industry do not have the kind of countervailing advantage in technology that might exist in other industries to enable them to overcome a substantial advantage in the labor cost of foreign competitors...
...According to a 1974 report on plants producing men's and boys' shirts and nightwear, machine cutters in the Southeast averaged 30% less than cutters in the Mid-Atlantic States...
...14 The migration has slowed but not stopped since the 1960's, and still provides a steady supply of low-wage labor for industry...
...Inter-regional differences are extremely significant-especially in an industry where wages constitute such a large component of total costs...
...The social process through which the capitalist realizes profit is divided into two essential stages: (1) The production of surplus-value: This involves setting wage workers to work under conditions in which they produce a value in excess of the value represented by the money they receive as wages...
...In the five-year period 1967-71, the only period for which data were available, a total of 87 strikes in the apparel sector occurred in the South, while the number for the Northeast was 269-three times as great...
...By reducing any of these expenses the individual capitalist is able to increase profits proportionately...
...Bureau of the Census, Census of Manufacturers, 1958 and 1972...
...firms have moved some or all of their production abroad...
...Census, Census of ManProfits then can be increased in either of two major ways: By raising prices or by lowering costs...
...North Carolina, the most industrialized state of the South and the region's largest apparel producer, had the lowest rate of all at 9.8% (see Map...
...For example, if strikes had been proportional to employment, in 1971, the Northeast would have accounted for about 40% of the strikes that occurred in the United States in that year...
...cit., 5. 20...
...if strike activity proportional to emol oyment...
...In many small towns of the South, a single factory may be the only available source of employment...
...Not only was the level of strike activity very different between regions but so were the causes...
...In this area, the South seems to have a distinct advantage...
...Between 1950 and 1974, the South's share of total employment in the apparel industry took a giant leap from slightly less than 17% to more than 44...
...Taft-Hartley not only outlawed the closed shop, but in its Section 14(B) granted states concurrent jurisdiction over matters of union security-provided only that state laws be more restrictive than federal law...
...In a closed shop, a worker must join a union in order to be hired...
...Bureau of the ufacturers, 1963 and 1972...
...In the Southeast region, for example, four out of five workers producing men's and boys' suits and coats, and men's and boys' shirts, are employed in non-metropolitan areas...
...The predominant cause of strikes during this period in the Northeast was wage demands...
...1976) 2 Seventy-five percent of all workers producing women's and misses' dresses in the Boston area were unionized in 1974, compared to 5% or less in Dallas and Miami (and Los Angeles...
...Southern plants tend to be larger, more modern in layout and often employ a more elaborate division of labor...
...3 However, since these costs tend to be more or less the same no matter where production is undertaken, they can provide no incentive for an apparel manufacturer to relocate...
...Moreover, the gap in absolute terms has actually increased over the years...
...bid, 22...
...Industry Wage Surveys for respective branches, op...
...and (2) differences in the technology embodied in that capital...
...Industry Wage Survey, Men's and Boys' Shirts . . . 1974, op...
...New York City alone lost 68,000 jobs in the apparel sector between 1958 and 1972-a decline of 28%.' It clings to the title of Fashion Capital of the World only by virtue of its role as center of design and marketing, and producer of haute-couture fashions...
...primarily strikes for union recognition...
...7. AAMA, op...
...cit., 8. 12...
...1974, op...
...1974, op...
...lurt lInk at the record...
...apparel companies...
...4. Morris Zeitlin, The New York Garment Center (unpublished thesis for a master's degree in science planning, Pratt Institute), 1961, 66...
...The South has endeared itself to capital as a land of low unionization, right-to-work laws and unemployed rural laborers hungry for industrial jobs...
...1 New Jersey 7.4 New York 33.9 Pennsylvania 13.4 Rhode Island .3 SOUTH 16.7 Alabama .8 Arkansas .3 Delaware .3 Florida .3 Georgia 2.5 Kentucky 1.5 Maryland 2.1 Mississippi 1.2 N. Carolina 1.1 Oklahoma - S. Carolina 1.0 Tennessee 1.9 Texas 2.3 Virginia 1.4 W. Virginia - CENTRAL 13.2 WEST 4.9 *all employees 1960 1970 1974 100.0 52.9 1.5 .2 4.9 .2 6.3 25.8 13.7 .3 27.9 2.1 .7 .3 .7 3.9 1.6 1.9 2.3 2.9 .3 2.5 3.6 2.9 1.9 .3 11.0 6.4 100.0 41.4 1.0 .2 3.6 .2 5.3 18.3 12.5 .3 39.8 3.3 1.2 .2 1.7 5.1 2.0 1.6 2.8 5.5 .7 3.2 4.8 4.5 2.8 .4 9.6 7.7 100.0 35.7 .9 .3 3.4 .2 4.6 14.9 11.2 .2 44.2 3.8 1.2 .1 2.4 5.2 2.1 1.4 3.2 6.1 1.0 3.3 5.5 5.5 2.9 .5 9.8 9.9 Bureau of Labor States and TABLE 4 DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYMENT* BY INDUSTRY GROUP AND REGION (%) Industry Northeast South Group 1963 1972 1963 1972 23 50.2 39.2 32.5 43.0 231 59.1 53.3 23.0 29.8 232 22.8 16.6 62.8 68.8 233 64.7 54.8 17.6 28.0 234 50.5 35.0 36.9 52.2 235 66.0 40.9 14.9 45.3 236 60.4 46.8 31.5 25.2 237 92.2 87.5 1.3 7.5 238 57.8 48.6 25.0 33.3 239 47.5 33.3 21.6 33.6 productionn workers Source: U.S...
...Firstly, many U.S...
...But the situation does not seem promising...
...Tariff barriers further discourage shifting all stages of production abroad...
...between union and non-union plants were considerable, although in both instances the gap between Northern and Southern wages was preserved...
...But these are such relatively small components of the total cost that relocation to realize these differences offers very little in the way of increased profits...
...Domestically, not all branches of the industry have followed the same migratory path...
...In order to maintain or raise profits, capital seeks conditions that ensure its control over production, unfettered and uninterrupted by any form of labor strife...
...Average hourly earnings for apparel workers in the Northeast and the South are contrasted in Table 6. In 1974, for example, wages in New York were 43% higher than in North Carolina...
...each performing one or two assigned tasks on various pieces in the bundle.14 THE LABOR CLIMATE Low wages and productivity on par with or higher than the Northeast are not the only prizes in store for capital when it moves...
...5. Ibid...
...Industry Wage Survey, Men's and Boys' Shirts...
...Taxes and insurance, for example, typically account for only 2 to 3% of total costs and "vary too little to seriously affect locational decisions...
...At least 83% of all workers in the Northeast are covered TABLE 6 A'.ERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS FOR PRODUCTICN WORKERS !N THE APPAREL INDUSTRY, SELECTED STATES* (current dollars) 1960 1970 1974 NORTHEAST New York $2.02 $3.02 $3.69 Pennsylvania 1.56 2.49 3.31 New Jersey 1.72 2.68 3.36 Massachusetts 1.62 2.57 3.24 SOUTH N. Carolina 1.20 2.00 2.58 Texas 1.29 1.97 2.62 Georgia 1.29 2.06 2.68 Alabama 1.20 2.03 2.61 S. Carolina 1.17 1.96 2.53 "*States listed in descending order according to % of total employment in the apparel industry...
...2 incl...
...Industry Wage Survey, Men's and Boys' Shirts...
...What is the special allure of South Korea, Haiti or the American South...
...cit...
...Source: U.S...
...wage for apparel workers in 1974-when you can pay 57 cents an hour in Hong Kong, 27 cents in Haiti or 22 cents in South Korea...
...Under a similar assumption, the South would have accounted for over 40% of total strikes, while the actual figure was only 20% (see Chart...
...Sewing machine operators averaged 20% less...
...Indeed, low wages and high productivity are the very effects of such conditions...
...7 Furthermore, mainland production still offers important advantages such as proximity to markets and greater flexibility and speed in terms of adjusting output to rapid shifts in fashion...
...COMPARISON OF STRIKE ACTIVITY IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY, BY REGION (1967 - 1971) 100* 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 inn-, 50= 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 - actual % of national strikes --- est...
...As one management consultant to the industry explained, "manufacturers who move south tend to leave their bad habits behind...
...Youll be able to do busi...
...The result is that 20 states-11 of them in the South and the remainder in the West-have enacted right-to-work legislation which prohibits even the union shop.** In other words, even in plants where a majority of the workers have voted for union recognition and belong to a union, no employee can be required to join that union as a condition of employment...
...cit., 1-5...
...Nevertheless, the fact that the industry's technology is common to all regions, domestic and foreign, tends to minimize the possibility of significant differences in output per man-hour...
...In the " 1 p',t 4tn c:re...
...1 5 In the Northeast, however, the situation is exactly reversed: 80 to 100% of employment in these three branches is concentrated in metropolitan areas...
...STRIKE ACTIVITY Inter-regional differences in the labor climate express themselves as well in differences in the pattern of strike activity...
...6 Unlike the cost of raw materials, wages vary considerably between regions and labor costs can be affected significantly by geographic relocation...
...In practice, they function as an effective obstacle to the development of strong unions...
...Some considerable part of the profits of capitalists in the oil, steel and auto industries, for example, undoubtably rests on the monopoly power which they exercise in the markets for their products...
...Ostensibly, the * The term metropolitan area refers to the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, defined as a county or group of contiguous counties which contains at least one city of 50,000 inhabitants or more...
...an average of on)v three oichundredths of one percent rof o:kiug tinc was lost due to labor rife Oalr irorter prodwutivty rate ri airottrrr source of prec--it ranges 14 25, higher than the national as crac...
...FC work stoppage rate in the country...
...Clearly, conditions in the American South are distinct from those described above...
...Department of Labor, Statistics, Employment & Earnings Areas, 1939-74...
...AN INDUSTRY ON WHEELS 1. U.S...
...The difference for the capitalist is profit, the fund out of which accumulation will be financed...
...cit., 8. 16...
...WAGES Why pay $2.99 an hour-the average U.S...
...The Rural Migration Between 1940 and 1960, agricultural employment in the South declined by 59%-from approximately 4.2 million to 1.7 million people.' 1 The technological revolution in agriculture forced rural wage-earners and small We don't have Mat iS 7 z 7...
...In men's and boys' shirts (except work shirts) and nightwear, 26% of the work-force was unionized in the16 Southeast, compared to 93 and 87% in New England and the Mid-Atlantic States, respectively (1974 figures).' 8 In men's and boys' separate trousers, 12.7% of workers in the Southeast were unionized, compared to 93% in the Mid-Atlantic States (1974...
...1974, op...
...It is also clear from these figures that whereas most of the time lost through strikes in the Northeast was in pursuit of higher wages (50...
...Industry Wage Survey, Men's and Boys' Shirts...
...This entire process presents itself to the individual capitalist as the task of minimizing the costs of production and maximizing the selling prices of his/her product...
...Due to this factor alone, there is no single company, or even 2 or 3 companies within a given category, that can appreciably influence the prices the industry receives for its products...
...According to the American Apparel Manufacturers Association, this alternative is open "to only a handful of U.S...
...The least mechanized branches, those which require tailoring skills, still locate the bulk of their production in the Northeast...
...Today, however, the Northeast region as a whole employs little more than a third of all workers in the industry, compared to nearly two-thirds in 1950 (see Table 3...
...The difference in the time worked and the products produced during that time, is an important source of profits for the capitalist...
...most of that lost in the Southeast was in pursuit of union recognition (65...
...Women, in particular, have flooded the market for manufacturing jobs in the South...
...Workers in the Southeast average 6 days or less...
...The proposed amendment did not demand outright repeal of the law, but would have permitted the union shop if workers at a unionized plant voted for it and then won it in bargaining...
...PROFITS Any attempt to understand this wholesale migration of capital must begin with an examination of the forces which operate on the individual capitalist, forces which require that s/he act in a particular way in a particular situation, or abandon the role of capitalist altogether...
...In 1960, the difference in wage rates between New York and North Carolina was 82 cents...
...In this third category are included taxes, rent, insurance premiums and finance costs...
...actual Y of workers involved Source: U.S...
...We will see below that wide differentials exist between the labor costs of domestic and foreign producers, and between plants in the Northeast and the South...
...In particular s/he must consider the length of the working period which the wage will buy, the speed or intensity at which workers in the different areas can be made to work, and the productivity of workers in the two areas...
...Area Series...
...12 Means of production is the single largest component of costs for capitalists in the apparel industry...
...Once a union has won recognition at a given plant, it must maintain an organizing presence at all times to avoid decertification...
...Even within regions, firms choose their production sites carefully, tending to avoid the large metropolitan areas whenever possible.* In the apparel industry, the vast majority of Southern plants are located in nonmetropolitan areas where labor tends to be even less organized, less militant and more desperate for jobs than in urban centers...
...Many fear that unionization will scare industry away by reproducing the very conditions that drove it South in the first place...
...Small farmers who were unable to make the necessary capital investment to modernize their farms and large numbers of farm laborers, mostly Negroes, began to leave Southern farms and migrate to urban areas...
...The AFL-CIO says that repeal of Section 14(B) is one of its top priorities...
...12 Each of these factors-the length of working time, the intensity of work and the productivity of labor-serves to accentuate the profit potential which the capitalist in the apparel industry may seek to realize by moving his/her operations from the high-wage Northeast to the lower-wage South...
...It's no wonder then that 63% of the shirt industry's 90,000 workers are concentrated in the Southeast, and only 15 per cent in the Mid-Atlantic States.8 The importance of these wage differentials for profits is reinforced by differences in non-wage compensation...
...TABLE 5 ESTIMATED AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS, APPAREL WORKERS, U.S...
...Hence, non-union members receive whatever benefits the union gains, without contributing financially or otherwise to the union's operations...
...4 There are significant differences between regions of the United States in "costs" such as rent, insurance premiums, taxes and sometimes finance costs...
...O(i aIcrgce working %ek is 41 2 hours...
...Secondly, a rapid rate of expansion as well as an enormous flight of capital from the Northeast have transformed the South into the largest apparel-producing region in the United States...
...James G. Maddox, The Advancing South: Manpower Prospects and Problems (New York: The Twentieth Century Fund), 1967...
...21 Within the Southeast region, wage differentials...
...Yet there, too, the absence of strong labor organizations that defend the interests of the working class make the South a haven for high profits and uninhibited exploitation...
...AND ABROAD, 1974 (U.S...
...1976, op...
...Not all firms, however, have the capacity to set up production abroad or to establish relations with foreign contractors...
...ILGWU, The Domestic Women's and Children's Apparel Industry, op...
...The most standar- dized branches such as shirts, undergarments, work clothing and trousers, are now located predominantly in the South...
...Moreover, the governments of Taiwan, South Korea, Haiti, the Dominican Republic et al depend for their survival on the economic, military and political support of the United States government...
...Industry Wage Survey, Men's and Boys' Suits and Coats...
...UNIONIZATION The American South has not yet extended its hospitality to labor unions...
...It is the combined effect of these forces, we believe, which largely accounts for the rapid migration of capital in this industry during the past 25 years...
...cit., 52...
...The relative inability of individual capitalists in the apparel industry to affect the prices at which they sell their products means that the focus of their attempts to increase profits must shift to the task of reducing their costs...
...The active efforts of business and government to oppose their development have generated strong anti-union attitudes among workers as well...
...In every other state, the percentage of unionized non-agricultural workers fell below the national average of 25.8% in 1974...
...ieis painlessly here...
...In men's and boys' shirts, for example, workers in the Southeast averaged $2.63 an hour in metropolitan areas, compared to $2.43 an hour in non-metropolitan areas...
...Labor enjoys few if any democratic rights in these countries, and labor organizations are either non-existent or tightly controlled by the state...
...In anticipation of the 1976 vote, Business Week stated: "the outcome, which will indicate public attitudes toward unions in a typical Southern state, could have national impact...
...In fact, the figure was 53...
...Any unit of capital which does not reinvest its profit in new means of production and new labor power, and which does not constantly and aggressively look out 11 for new markets, increased shares of old markets, new and better production methods, and new and better sources of labor power, means of production and raw materials, will sooner or later be driven out of existence by competitors who do...
...For any unit of capital, and hence for any capitalist, competition makes the accumulation of capital an absolutely essential process...
...Inter-regional differences in the productivity of labor may result from two factors: (1) differences in the amount of capital invested as means of production per worker...
...investment are ruled by repressive, dictatorial regimes...
...9. Ibid., 6-7...
...1974, op...
...Furthermore, by federal law a union must represent all workers within its bargaining unit...
...violated contract...
...In fact, many companies have moved to the South with a guarantee from local governments or Chambers of Commerce that no other firm will be permitted to move in and compete for an already abundant supply of labor...
...There are two large components of costs for the capitalist: costs of labor power and costs of means of production (plant, machinery and raw materials...
...manufacturers have asked themselves the question and promptly moved production to low-wage areas abroad...
...In men's and boys' shirts, for example, 40% of all workers in the Mid-Atlantic States were employed in plants of 250 workers or more, compared to 60% in the Southeast.11 The most efficient method of production, the progressive bundling system,* was predominant in plants employing 52% of all workers in the Mid-Atlantic States, and 65% in the Southeast...
...Only thus can workers' wages be counted in pennies...
...According to a 1974 study of the men's and boys' shirt industry, for example, workers in union plants in the Southeast averaged $2.69 an hour, those in non-union plants averaged $2.37...
...Counties contiguous to the one containing such a city are included if, according to certain criteria, they are essentially metropolitan in character and are socially and economically integrated with the central city...
...The second part involves relationships among capitalists themselves in the market...
...primarily union claims co...
...2. Fashion Institute of Technology, op...
...1971, op...
...Since the advent of store-bought clothing in the late nineteenth century, cities in the Northeast such as Rochester, Boston, Philadelphia and New York have been the nation's major purveyors of men's and women's apparel...
...9 Paid vacations, insurance plans and other fringe benefits also vary widely between these two regions...
...PRODUCTIVITY In evaluating the potential for profit that arises from moving from a high to a low-wage area, the individual capitalist must take more into account than the simple difference in the wage...
...cit., 3. 8. Industry Wage Survey, Men's and Boys' Shirts...
...Industry Wage Survey, Women's and Misses' Dresses...
...cit., 2. 13...
...16 RIGHT-TO-WORK LAWS The infamous Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, in addition to mounting an attack on the rights of all workers, included a provision that paved the way for inter-regional differences in matters of labor legislation...
...The first part of this process involves primarily relations between the individual capitalist and the workers at the immediate point of production (as well as in the labor market where the wage is established...
...10 Within the limits of this common technology, however, differences in the organization of production may result in higher rates of productivity in one region than another...
...What has caused capital to abandon one region and embrace another...
...Raising prices (a strategy directed at capturing a portion of the surplus value produced by other capitalists) is limited by the market power of the individual capitalist...
...Specific data on unionization of apparel workers in the South is very difficult to obtain, although more information is published by the Labor Department on men's wear branches of the industry than on women's wear...
...3. American Association of Apparel Manufacturers study (1970), cited in AAMA, op...
...In men's and boys' shirts, for example, workers in the Northeast generally receive 8 days or more of paid holidays...
...In the South, the most prevalent cause of strikes involved union charges that the company had violated the terms of the contract (see Table 7...
...Bureau of Labor Statistics SOUTH -.- -TABLE 7 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTIONS OF CAUSES OF STRIKE ACTIVITY, BY REGION (1967-1971) NUMBER OF STRIKES N. EAST SOUTH i. wagess 46% 31% 2. organizing 30 28 3. working conditions 23 41 NUMBER OF WORKERS INVOLVED 1. wages 70% 36% 2. organizing 11 23 3. working conditions 19 41 NUMBER OF WORKING DAYS i3LE 1. wages 50% 21% 2. organizing 39 65 3. working conditions ii 14 1 incl...
...Profits are the means by which the capitalist can expand...
...farmers alike off the land and into the market for industrial jobs...
...dollars) United States 52.99 Japan 1.35 Hong Kong .57 Mexico .56 Colombia .45 Dominican Republic .38 Guatemala .29 Singapore .27 Haiti .24 South Korea .22 Philippines .14 Source: ILGWU Statistics.13 by pension plans, while only 38% of workers in the Southeast enjoy these benefits...
...In the post-war period, two new poles of accumulation have developed in the apparel industry...
...Source: U.S...
...Louisiana joined the list of right-to-work states just last year...
...4.8 New Hamp...
...1974, op...
...The same would be true if (as is entirely possible) workers in the Southeast, because they are working in a generally depressed and unorganized region, could be made to work at a faster pace than workers in the Northeast...
...By 1974, it had increased to $1.11...
...cit., 38-41...
...2 Far from benefitting from monopoly power, capitalists in the apparel sector are probably losers, their suppliers of machinery and raw materials being more centralized and hence more capable of raising prices than the apparel manufacturers themselves...
...The incentive for accumula- tion is survival itself as a capitalist and the means are profits...
...A labor-initiated campaign to amend the right-to-work law in Arkansas met with strong opposition.* Only 16 per cent of the state's non-farm labor force is organized and average hourly earnings are $1.18 below the national average...
...Capital thrives best in an environment where labor militancy is lowest, where labor organizations are weak or non-existent, or where both are systematically repressed by the state apparatus...
...The general characteristics of these forces derive from the nature of capitalist relations of production (relations between capitalists and workers as well as relations among capitalists), but their implications for the actions of individual capitalists is very much affected by the peculiarities of a particular branch of production...
...Wages vary accordingly...
...Nevertheless, data available for specific branches indicate very low levels of unionization overall, compared to much higher levels in the Northeast...
...In a special report on foreign competition, for example, the ILGWU reaches the following conclusions, applicable to domestic regions as well: Technology and managerial know-how in this industry[apparel] is comparatively simple, and furthermore, internationalized-the same machine producers and management consultants frequently operate throughout the world, and provide firms everywhere with similar *equipment and advice...
...The character of technology in the apparel industryrequiring little in the way of fixed capital and hence making it relatively easy for new firms to enter and compete with the old ones-does not allow for the same degree of centralization that is present in auto or steel...
Vol. 11 • March 1977 • No. 3
