Background Study Tirupur - Fair Wear Foundation

1. Introduction
Whenever the FWF starts to operate in countries where garments are being produced
for FWF (prospective) member companies, the first step is the make a background
study for "members of the FWF". Often this study will refer to a specific region of the country,
as garments are often produced in particular regional clusters.
This study has four different parts serving four different purposes:
-1 To give an overall context to asses the limits and possibilities of the companies involved
to improve labour standards.
-2 To facilitate the verification process by the FWF and the monitoring task of member
companies by giving an overview of current legislation, and relevant court cases regarding
the labour standards and other types of regulation concerning the labour standards.
-3 Similar to 3 but then focussing on Health & Safety laws and regulations.
-4 The background study contains an inventory of the stakeholder organisations that
could be asked to participate in the partner network.
This study is a working document. (Parts of) the background study can be updated at any
time.
This study refers to the state of Tamil Nadu in India and more specific the town of Tirupur.
1.1. Sources
Contributions to this study have been made by:
CARE (Community Awareness Research Education) in Coimbatore
PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia) in New Delhi.
Additional information by the FWF from secondary sources is included. Major sources are:
- IICCI: Comparative analysis of Textile districts in Italy and India. Published by:
The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mumbai - 400 025. India.
- Sujana Krishnamoorthy: Structure of the Garments Industry and Labour Rights in
India, The Post MFA Context. CEC 2003.
- D. Müller-Falcke: Problems in the development of Local Associations: Some Observations
from India. ZEF Bonn .
- Nick Robins and Sarah Roberts (ed): The reality of sustainable trade. IIED (International
Institute for Environment and Development) April 2000
- Meenu Tewari and Jeffery Goebel: Small Firm Competitiveness in a Trade Liberalized
World. Lessons for Tamil Nadu. April 2002
- G. Joshi (ed): Garment industry in South Asia; rags or riches. ILO 2002.
- http://www.saarcnet.com/newsaarcnet/countryprofile/India/india27.html (Excerpt
from: South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation (SAARC); country profile
India)
- Association for Stimulating the Know-how (ASK): Basic information on regional
labour conditions in the region of Mumbai, prestudy report for FWF 2001.
- Labor Market and Social Insurance Policy in India: A Case of Losing on Both
Competitiveness and Caring. Ramgopal Agarwala and Zafar Dad Khan. Worldbank
paper. Stock No. 37168
- Nike and Gap India Country Reports (report written by ACCORD for Global Alliance
on workers’life situation, http://www.theglobalalliance.org/pdf/india-needsassessment-nike-2003.PDF)
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