I am a labour researcher studying how labour markets, institutions and global production networks shape workers’ livelihoods and working conditions. I hold a PhD from the University of Sussex and previously worked as a researcher at SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) in Amsterdam. 

At the University of Zurich I am part of the Labour Geography Group and contribute to the ERC Advanced Grant project UNDEREMPLOYED, led by Karin Schwiter. The project investigates the rise of involuntary part-time employment across Europe through comparative research in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Within this project, I conduct research on the Netherlands, examining how labour market institutions, welfare systems, migration regimes and gender relations shape patterns of underemployment, and how workers and their organisations navigate and contest these conditions.

 

Merk, J. (2025). Subcontracted capitalism and the polemical verification of right: A Rancièrian interpretation of the politics of transnational private governance in Nike’s global production network. Territory, Politics, Governance, 13(4), 565–583. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2023.2219695

Merk, J. (2022). Global production networks, latent power resources and (constrained) collective workers’ agency: Findings from a giant manufacturer in Indonesia. Austrian Journal of Development Studies, 38(1–2).https://doi.org/10.20446/JEP-2414-3197-38-2-84

Siegmann, K. A., Merk, J., & Knorringa, P. (2017). Positive class compromise in globalized production? The freedom of association protocol in the Indonesian sportswear industry. International Labour Review, 156(3–4), 345–366. https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12036

Merk, J. (2014). The rise of tier 1 firms in the global garment industry: Challenges for labour rights advocates. Oxford Development Studies, 42(2), 277–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2014.908177

Den Hond, F., Stolwijk, S., & Merk, J. (2014). A strategic-interaction analysis of the CCC urgent appeal system and its outcomes for garment workers. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 19(1), 83–111.https://doi.org/10.17813/maiq.19.1.n743kw1twlm37268

Egels-Zandén, N., & Merk, J. (2013). Private regulation and trade union rights: Why codes of conduct have limited impact on trade union rights. Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 123, pages 461–473, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1840-x   

Merk, J. (2011). Production beyond the horizon of consumption: Spatial fixes and anti-sweatshop struggles in the global athletic footwear industry. Global Society, 25(1), 71–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2010.522984

Merk, J. (2009). Jumping scale and bridging space in the era of corporate social responsibility: Cross-border labour struggles in the global garment industry. Third World Quarterly, 30(3), 599–615. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40388136

Book chapters

Merk, J., & Zajak, S. (2017). Worker participation and transnational social movement interventions at the shop floor: The urgent appeal system of the Clean Clothes Campaign. In S. Berger, L. Pries, & M. Wannöffel (Eds.), Companion to workers’ participation at plant level: A global and comparative perspective. Palgrave Macmillan.

Siegmann, K. A., Merk, J., & Knorringa, P. (2016). Civic innovation in global value chains: Towards workers as agents in voluntary initiatives. In W. Harcourt, B. Helmsing, & P. Knorringa (Eds.), Exploring civic innovation for social and economic transformation. Routledge.

Merk, J. (2015). Global outsourcing and socialization of labour—The case of Nike. In K. van der Pijl (Ed.), Handbook of the international political economy of production. Edward Elgar.

Burchhardt, G., & Merk, J. (2011). Verhaltenskodizes und Sozialaudits – was haben sie den Beschäftigten der Bekleidungsindustrie in den Produktionsländern gebracht? In G. Burchhardt (Ed.), Mythos CSR? Unternehmensverantwortung und Regulierungslücken (pp. 113–118). Springer Gabler.

Merk, J. (2011). Die strukturelle Krise der flexibilisierten Arbeit: Strategien und Aussichten für die transnationale gewerkschaftliche Organisierung in der Bekleidungs- und Sportschuhbranche. In T. Greven (Ed.), Globalisierung und Arbeitsmarkt. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung.

Merk, J. (2010). Cross-border wage struggles in the global garment industry: The campaign for an Asia Floor Wage. In A. Bieler & I. Lindberg (Eds.), Global restructuring, labour and the challenges for transnational solidarity. Routledge.

Merk, J. (2008). Restructuring and conflict in the global athletic footwear industry: Nike, Yue Yuen and labour codes of conduct. In M. Taylor (Ed.), Global economy contested: Finance, production and the international division of labour. Routledge.

Merk, J. (2007). The private regulation of labour standards: The case of the apparel and footwear industries. In J. C. Graz & A. Nölke (Eds.), Transnational private governance and its limits. Blackwell.