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

Child and adult labour in the garment export industry of Tirupur
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Ages
The interviewed children were in the age group of 10 to 13. The age at which children started
working varied from 7 to 12 years. The majority of the children started working at the age of 10.
Wages
Boys earned more than girls but that was because boys were more often working in the nightshift
than girls. Both were paid according to the time rate system and got their money daily or weekly.
Some children got their wages paid according to the piece rate system . The older child labourers
and the child labourers who had worked for a few years earned higher wages. The wages of the 8
children ranged between Rs 13 and Rs 28 per day (i.e. Rs 312 and Rs 672 per month). The starting
wages ranged between Rs 5 and Rs 13 per day. Most of them were already working for two
or three years.
All the children gave their wages to their parents but some of them were allowed to keep around
Rs 5 every week for themselves, which was spent on movies or kept for saving.
The adults who worked in the hosiery industry were paid according to the piece rate system.
Interviewed employers said that wages varied between Rs 30 and Rs 75 per day (i.e. Rs 780 and
Rs 1950 per month). The children said that the wages of adult members of their family who
worked in the hosiery industry, ranged between Rs 600 and Rs 1200 per month, and the youngest
adult members got wages which ranged between Rs 400 and Rs 700 per month.
Working hours
Most of the children worked 12 to 16 hours per day for 6 days a week. That meant 1,5 to 2 shifts
per day (one shift is 8 hours). The children worked approximately 8 to 10 shifts per week. The
work day often started at 8 a.m. and did not end earlier than 9 p.m. Lunch time was from noon to
1 p.m. Sometimes children also stopped working at 6 p.m. and were needed in the nightshift from
9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Both boys and girls worked in the nightshift regularly and on Sundays also. The
children said that they did not receive extra money for overtime work.
The children talked about 'overtime work' in the way as twelve year old Selva did: 'I assist the
tailor since three years and earn Rs 25 per day. I work 9 shifts per week and hardly ever arrive
home before 9 p.m. Sometimes I have to work in the night also and on Sundays. The work is often
very tiring as there is only one hour lunch time. When I work in the nightshift there is no other
break. Though I get tea in the night, it is sometimes difficult not to fall a sleep'.
In Tirupur, the children work alongside the adult workers in the hosiery factories for long hours
per day. During factory visits, it was observed that the child labourers had to match with the
speed of the adult workers. During interviews working children complained about this fact. Because
the adult workers were paid according to the piece rate system, they tried to finish as many
garments as they could. The children were often scolded by their employers when they worked
too slow or made mistakes or when they talked to each other.
Joyti, who is 14 years of age and has worked in a garment factory in Tirupur since she was ten
years of age, said in the interview: 'If I work in the nightshift, the supervisor provides us with tea
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