Professor Jean Jenkins

Teams and roles for Jean Jenkins

Emeritus Professor
Cardiff Business School

My teaching, research and writing is concerned with employment relations in the global economy. I focus mainly on labour rights, collective representation and conditions of work and working time in low paid employment, with a specialism in the international garment sector. A commitment to social justice in work and employment informs my teaching and research.

Date
Type

2026

Jenkins, J. , Blakely, H. and Davies, R. 2026. Devolution and power: employment rights, bargaining and risk. Industrial Relations Journal 57 (2), pp.150-159. (10.1111/irj.70015)

2025

Jenkins, J. 2025. Unfree labour: how modern is modern slavery?. In: Rees, C. et al., Handbook on the Sociology of Work. Edward Elgar. , pp.422-435. (10.4337/9781035302376.00038)
Gouzoulis, G. , Jenkins, J. and Krzywdzinski, M. 2025. Editorial. Work in the Global Economy 5 , pp.2-5. (10.1332/27324176Y2025D000000031)

2015

Jenkins, J. 2015. The significance of grass-roots organizing in the garment and electrical value chains of Southern Indias. In: Newsome, K. et al., Putting Labour in its Place: Labour Process Analysis and Global Value Chains.. Critical Perspectives on Work and Employment Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. , pp.195-212.

2013

Blyton, P. R. and Jenkins, J. 2013. Mobilising protest: insights from two factory closures. British Journal of Industrial Relations 51 (4), pp.733-753. (10.1111/j.1467-8543.2012.00906.x)
Jenkins, J. 2013. Organizing 'spaces of hope': union formation by Indian garment workers. British Journal of Industrial Relations 51 (3), pp.623-643. (10.1111/j.1467-8543.2012.00917.x)

2012

Blyton, P. R. and Jenkins, J. 2012. Life after Burberry: shifting experiences of work and non-work life following redundancy. Work, Employment and Society 26 (1), pp.26-41. (10.1177/0950017011426306)
Blyton, P. R. and Jenkins, J. 2012. Mobilizing resistance: the Burberry workers' campaign against factory closure. Sociological Review 60 (1), pp.25-45. (10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02043.x)
Jenkins, J. 2012. Union Formation by Female Garment Workers in India: Moving Forward in Unity. Presented at: 16th World Congress of ILERA (IIRA) World Congress 2012 Philadelphia, PA, USA 2-5 July 2012.

2011

Blyton, P. R. and Jenkins, J. 2011. The Local Workplace. Presented at: 7th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Blyton, P. R. and Jenkins, J. 2011. Working all hours: the part-time poverty trap. Project Report.[Online].Bevan Foundation. Available at: http://www.bevanfoundation.org/publications/working-all-hours-the-part-time-poverty-trap/.
Jenkins, J. 2011. Patient Organising for Small Victories: Union formation among Indian Garment Workers. Presented at: British Journal of Industrial Relations (BJIR): 50th Anniversary Conference London School of Economics, London, UK 13 December 2011.

2010

Blyton, P. R. and Jenkins, J. 2010. Ways of life after redundancy: anatomy of a community following factory closure. In: Blyton, P. et al., Ways of Living: Work, Community and Lifestyle Choice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.202-219. (10.1057/9780230273993_9)
Jenkins, J. 2010. Courage, knowledge and the power of organisation. Presented at: Annual International Labour Process Conference Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA 15-17 March, 2010.
Jenkins, J. and Turnbull, P. 2010. Can workers of the world unite? Globalization and the employment relationship. In: Blyton, P. R. , Heery, E. J. and Turnbull, P. J. eds. Reassessing the Employment Relationship. Management, work and organisations Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.195-224.

2009

Blyton, P. and Jenkins, J. 2009. Changed work, changed lives?. Presented at: 15th World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA) Sydney, Australia 24-27 August 2009.
Blyton, P. and Jenkins, J. 2009. End of the campaign. Presented at: BUIRA Annual Conference Cardiff, UK 2-4 July, 2009.
Jenkins, J. 2009. Power, resistance and hegemony in multinational companies (MNCs): an investigation of the impact of organizational, market based and societal resources on local actors' ability to shape transnational social spaces in Germany and the UK. Presented at: Employment Research Unit (ERU) Conference Cardiff 3-4 September 2009.

2008

Blyton, P. R. and Jenkins, J. 2008. Key concepts in work. SAGE Key Concepts series Sage.
Jenkins, J. 2008. Pressurised partnership: a case of perishable compromise in contested terrain. New Technology, Work and Employment 23 (3), pp.167-180. (10.1111/j.1468-005X.2008.00211.x)
Jenkins, J. and Blyton, P. R. 2008. Works councils. In: Blyton, P. R. et al., The SAGE Handbook of Industrial Relations. London: Sage. , pp.346-357.

2007

Jenkins, J. 2007. Gambling partners? The risky outcomes of workplace partnerships. Work Employment & Society 21 (4), pp.635-652. (10.1177/0950017007082874)
Jenkins, J. 2007. Work-life imbalance: the case of annualised hours. Presented at: 8th European Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA) Manchester, U.K. 3-6 September 2007.

2006

Jenkins, J. 2006. Partnership and perish. Presented at: 24th Annual Labour Process Conference London, UK 10-12 April 2006.
Jenkins, J. 2006. 'Robust' partnership: processes and outcomes. Presented at: British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA) Annual Conference Galway, Ireland 28-30 June 2006.

2003

Jenkins, J. 2003. 'On the shopfloor' with clothing workers in the 1990s. Employee Relations 25 (2), pp.168-181. (10.1108/01425450310456460)

2002

Jenkins, J. 2002. Global market pressures in a regional context: experiences from field research in the industrial region of South Wales, UK. In: Geppert, M. , Matten, D. and Williams, K. eds. Challenges for European Management in a Global Context: Experiences from Britain and Germany. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.215-238.

2001

Jenkins, J. 2001. The eradication of leisure. New Technology Work and Employment 16 (2), pp.118-129. (10.1111/1468-005X.00081)

Research interests

Industrial relations in the international clothing sector
Work-life integration and decent work
Union-management partnership

PhD supervision research interests

Labour conditions in the international clothing sector, labour rights in global supply chains, organising strategies and trade unionism, precarious work.

Teaching commitments

Current Teaching:

I currently teach on the MSc International Management programme and am module leader for Globalisation and the Management of Labour.

Past Teaching Commitments:

Past teaching commitments have involved, lecturing on Employment Relations and International Human Resource Management at undergraduate level and International Business Environment at postgraduate level.

Supervision:

I supervise postgraduate and doctoral students in the field of employment relations and HRM, with a particular focus on labour conditions, organisation and labour rights in the international setting.

Jean Jenkins is a co-director of WISERD and Professor of Employment Relations at Cardiff Business School. Her research and teaching is mainly concerned with labour rights, social justice and industrial relations in global supply chains, with a particular focus on the international garment sector. She is an Associate of Labour Behind the Label and the Clean Clothes Campaign and has contributed to a range of practitioner reports in collaboration with trade unions as well as academic books and journal publications in her field.

I am currently supervising doctoral students researching in the following areas:

Chinese HRM

Industrialisation and Trade Policies in Vietnam