This paper addresses a critical gap in global supply chain (GSC) exploitation literature by exploring intra-group dynamics among workers, specifically local and migrant workers. While GSCs are recognized for perpetuating exploitation, past efforts to mitigate this have largely failed due to a top-down approach that neglects workers’ perspectives. Recent research calls for a more worker-centric focus but often treats workers as a homogeneous group, overlooking the compounded vulnerabilities of specific subsets, such as migrants. Drawing on the concept of lateral violence from Indigenous studies, this paper examines how local and migrant workers, despite sharing exploitative conditions, may perpetuate exploitation through intra-worker tensions such as aggression towards each other. We also show why these workers enact lateral violence and how they rationalise it by conceptualising the same as bilateral violence. Based on a qualitative study in Tirupur, India, involving 67 workers and 24 officials, the findings highlight how systemic oppression drives bilateral violence between workers. This research contributes to the literature on exploitation in GSCs, equity, diversity, and inclusion, and migration, offering theoretical and practical insights for more equitable labour conditions.
