FLEXIBLE WORK, PRECARIOUS FUTURE - SOME LESSONS FROM THE CANADIAN CLOTHING INDUSTRY

This paper explores the connection between labour 'flexibility' and th e cultural construction of work. It argues that while flexibility has always been a feature of capitalism, the gendered nature of that flexi bility has been overlooked both historically and in contemporary disco urse. The clothing industry has a long history of utilizing a flexible workforce through subcontracting and homework. Using an ethnographic case study of these forms of work in the clothing industry in Ontario, this paper demonstrates how flexibility is implemented and experience d empirically, and raises some questions for further consideration.