Tenacity Besides Depletion: Pandemics, Protests, and Workers from the Sri Lankan Apparel Sector

Abstract

Sri Lankan apparel has conventionally crafted itself as a niche and ethical supplier. Staying with this record, shifting to PPE (personal protective equipment) production, a tripartite agreement on minimum wages and a furlough scheme were key successes during the pandemic. However, the recurrent absence of living wages resulted in varied worker experiences. I use written testimonies from women garment workers to raise pivotal questions on how the lives of workers started to deplete during the pandemic and yet it did not prevent women workers from claiming differently—underlining slivers of hope, where depletion and tenacity are constant bedfellows. The pandemic was when Sri Lankan apparel's dis/articulation within global production processes came about. Contributing to feminist political economy readings of global production processes, I illustrate how depletion and tenacity are no binaries; acknowledging these spaces of hope offers the potential for agentive action.