Exploited or Entrepreneurs? : 9783639145144 : 15 Apr 2009 : Home-based workers are an ever increasing proportionof the Australian clothing industry's workforce. With decreasing tariff protections and increasingcheap imports of apparel into Australia, home-basedworkers offer both competitive labour costs, but mostimportantly, quick turnaround times. The media andmany academic studies, focus on this supply-sidestory of how home-based workers underpin afundamentally transforming industry. This book turnsour attention to the lives of the (mostly) migrantwomen who perform this work. Focusing on a newlycollectivising group of women entrepreneurs andemployees who do industrial sewing in their homes,this study documents a progressive policy shiftthat occurred in Sydney, Australia. The workgrapples with the complexities of mounting a case forstate endorsed minimum wage and condition protectionswithout an over-reliance on victimhood storylines. This analysis sheds light on a usually invisible