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This paper explores labor control and resistance at the point of production in apparel Global Value Chains (GVCs). It argues that, since the mid-2000s, structural transformations in the global apparel industry have engendered pricing and sourcing dynamics conducive to three systems of labor control: 1) increased work intensity and control through the piece rate system, 2) employer control over workers through company unions, and 3) the use of violence and threats of violence against independent unionists. The piece rate system is as old as the apparel industry itself, but it has been used with increased intensity in an attempt to maintain competitiveness following the end of controlled trade in textiles. Company unions are also an old system, but they have grown in influence as firms attempt to use them to block strong independent unionisms while also presenting the illusion of meeting Freedom of Association requirements for Corporate Social Responsibility programs. Finally, the recent concentration of production in some of the most violent countries of the world suggests that the climate of violence and, at times, direct threat of violence, are still used to discipline labor. I refer to the increased used of these repressive labor control strategies as ‘social downgrading.’ Yet, workers are also pursuing a range of resistance strategies, notably work stoppages and triangular bargaining with suppliers and buyers. Using El Salvador as an illustrative case study, the paper draws on field research to examine these forms of labor control and worker resistance.