Background Study Tirupur - Fair Wear Foundation

leged corruption.
In Tirupur, there is one Assistant Inspector of Factories, Inspector of Factories
and one Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories. All the offices are located in Tiruppur.
These Inspectors inspect the factories, verify whether labour standards are
maintained, health and safety measures are followed and monitory benefits are given to the
workers.
“Even in those firms in Tiruppur which are in theory regulated (for example where they are
registered with the Factories Inspectorate) the labour force is substantially unaffected, certainly
as regards wage rates, and often as regards overall conditions of work. (…) The degree
of co-ordination necessary to achieve any measure of success in attempting to pressure
enterprises to conform totally undermines the task in hand. There was not only the Factories
Inspectorate, but different Inspectorates for Employees State Insurance and for Provident
Fund ; in addition, the Tiruppur Municipality had to grant a health and safety licence to which
the Electricity Board had to agree. “ (Cawthorne). This description of the situation in the
1980s does still seem to be valid.
Deputy chief factory inspectors will only inspect licensed companies above a certain number
employees. This inspection includes more safety aspects.
Otherwise only assistants inspectors will make visits.
Labour legislation is quite complicated. There are 200 odd central and state labour laws. Still
almost 97 per cent of the country’s workforce remained in the unorganised sector. (Tribune
news service sept. 8 2003).
A major overhaul of labor legislation is on its way. “The long-awaited report of the Second
Labour Commission had recommended, among other things, steps to check the multiplicity
of trade unions, reduction in the number of holidays and empowering employers to lay off
and retrench without prior permission.
The commission, headed by Mr Virendra Verma, also sought a comprehensive legislation
relating to working conditions at workplaces and another for the unorganised sector, besides
asking the Centre to notify a national floor level minimum wage, giving the state powers to fix
the minimum wage which should not be below the national level.” (Tribune news service
sept. 8 2003).
Uttar Pradesh and TN are introducing new laws that may allow contract labour in the garments
export sector.
3.6. Labour Laws And Acts
The following overview is based on a report form UNIDO (http://www.unido.org/en/doc/4825).
Most of the acts passed by the Government for the welfare of workers relate to the workers
in the 'organized sector' of India's economy. A number of social security schemes have been
established for them as well. Some acts and rules have also been framed for the nonorganized
sector.
Factories Act
The Act aims to regulate working conditions in factories and ensures minimum standards of
safety, health and welfare conditions of factory workers. The act also regulates the working
hours, leave, holiday, overtime and employment of children, women and young persons. The
Act was amended in 1987 to set out safeguards in respect to the handling of hazardous substances.
The Act is worked out in Factories Rules, made on the level of the states.
Working Hours
The Factories Act Prescribes a 48 hour week for adult workers. In Offices a work week is
generally considered to be 35 to 40 hours. Non-executive staff usually receive a shift allowance
if they work in shifts that differ from the usual working hours.
Paid Holidays
These are generally between 10 to 20 paid public holidays in a year, for factories and offices
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