Child-and-adult-labour-in-the-export-oriented-garment-and-gem-polishing-industry-of-India

PART I
Chapter 1
EUROPEAN AND INDIAN REGULATIONS AND
INITIATIVES: IMPROVING LABOUR CONDITIONS
AND ERADICATING CHILD LABOUR
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Measures and initiatives in Europe and the Netherlands
concerning international labour conditions and child labour
1.1 Introduction
Competition between countries in the world market has increased due to a more liberalized
international trade policy. The competition, however, for consumer products like shoes, garments,
gem studded jewellery, bedsheets, carpets, to mention a few, seems to be in the field of minimizing
costs of labour rather than maximizing the skills of labour. These consumer products are
mainly manufactured by workers in developing countries because these workers are cheaper, but
also by workers in the informal sector of developed countries where a supply on short notice of
consumer products is needed, for example of fashionable garments. The time factor also has
become important in manufacturing these products next to low labour costs. The industries of the
above mentioned consumer products are mainly operating in the informal sector where labour legislation
is not applicable; the majority of the workers, often women and children of the poorest
sections of the society, are temporary, unorganized, and are even opposed to join labour unions,
which means that a bargaining agreement to improve their labour conditions becomes difficult
and is often absent. The employer abuses the unequal employer-(child) labour relation: he pays
less than minimum wages, according to the piece rate system, and forces workers to work long
hours without providing them social security.
The integration of the world market has led to exploitation of more (child) workers and
deterioration of their working conditions in the countries which need the export trade for solving
internal problems (e.g. debts, unemployment and poverty) like India, Mexico, Bangladesh etc.,
but also in the countries which need to meet consumer demand for cheap consumer products, like
Europe and the US. In developing countries, more than in developed countries, the process of
international economic integration has led to economic exploitation of more child labourers.
Due to the (increasing) demand for cheap consumer products like the products mentioned earlier,
mainly by western countries, consumers, importers, store sellers and governments of these
countries are indirectly supporting child labour and bad working conditions in the (Indian) export
sectors where these products are manufactured. Today, the increase in the number of child labourers
is thus not only caused by developments within nations; it is also effected by and interwoven
with the process of globalization and integration of economic activities between nations. In fact,
seen in this light the problem of child labour and bad working conditions in export industries and
local informal industries, have also become a problem of the importing consuming (western)
countries.
The increasing number of economically exploited child labourers and the deteriorating working
conditions in export industries are a result of, among other causes, (world wide) economic greed,