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

32
The garment export industry of India: Tirupur and Bangalore
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The expansion and profitability of the garment industry in India has generated employment for
many people. It has the potential to improve the living conditions of many families. But till date,
the garment industry has only created surpluses for a few exporters and manufacturers by drawing
the maximum of work for minimal wages from the workforce, often migrant women, men and
children. 'The garment industry, especially in the export sector typifies the dehumanized conditions
of work in the informal and unorganized sector. The extensive subcontracting of work to
other manufacturing units and even home-based women workers, has deeply fragmented the industry,
leaving the workers with no enduring linkages. The majority of these subcontracted garment
manufacturing units are illegal and deliberately kept out of the purview of labour and factory
legislation. Any attempt to organize workers results in units being closed down and relocated
elsewhere' 53 . The majority of the workers is unorganized, which makes it difficult to establish
a collective bargaining agreement with the employer to improve the working conditions and
standards of these workers.
Studies 54 on the structure of and labour conditions in the export-oriented garment industry in India,
reveal the same situation; the export-oriented garment industry predominantly employs
women, is highly decentralized, labour intensive and mainly operating in the informal sector.
These studies reveal the exploitation of the majority of the workers: low wages, long working
hours (more than 8 hours per day), payments according to the piece rate system, no job security,
no access to statutory benefits like ESI 55 and PF 56 and no statutory benefits, like maternity leave
and sickness leave, etc. Not one of these studies, however, has highlighted the problem of child
labour in the export-oriented garment industry.
Tirupur, which produces 75% of the total cotton 'hosiery' or knitted garment output of India 57 ,
employs an estimated 8,000-10,000 58 to 25,000-35,000 59 child labourers out of a total workforce
of 350,000 workers working in the hosiery industry. The expansion of the hosiery industry in
Tirupur, which is caused by an increased international demand for knitted garments since 1980,
has led to the employment of more child labourers 60 . Two British journalists discovered that
C&A, a big garment chain-store in Europe, made use of child labourers in the production of
53 U. Ramaswamy and S. Davala, Women in the Indian Textile and Garment Industry. In: Women Textile Workers Demand Justice. On the
Situation of the Textile and Garment Industry in the Countries of the South, p. 53. Published by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Germany,
1992. Emphasis is added by the author of this report.
54 A few studies are:
U. Ramaswamy and S. Davala, Women in the Indian Textile and Garment Industry. In: Women Textile Workers Demand Justice. On the
Situation of the Textile and Garment Industry in the Countries of the South. Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 1992.
R. Rao and S. Husain, Invisible Hands: Women in Home-based Production in the Garment Export Industry in Delhi. In: Invisible Hands.
Women in Home-based Production. Edited by A. M. Singh and A. Kelles-Viitanen, 1987.
M. Singh, Garment Industry: The Indian Case. In: Labour Process in the Unorganised Industry, 1991, pp. 67-78.
Kalpagam, Labour in Small Industry: The case of the Garment Export Industry in Madras City. In: Labour & Gender. Survival in Urban India,
1981, pp. 155-195.
55 ESI stands for Employee State Insurance.
56 PF stands for Provident Fund (pension for the elderly people).
57 The Hindu, November 19, 1995. 'Great potential of a small town'.
58 The Hindu, September 20, 1995. 'Child labour census in Tirupur next month'.
59 P.K. Sajeesh, 'Child labour rampant in Tirupur'. In: Indian Express, September 29, 1994.
60 P.K. Sajeesh, 'Child labour rampant in Tirupur'. In: Indian Express, September 29, 1994.