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

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Child and adult labour in the garment export industry of Tirupur
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and puts the cassette player on with music. After the work is finished he brings me home on his
scooter'. Most of the children told me that it was very normal that in the nightshift music is used
to keep everybody awake.
Experts from NGOs in Tirupur said that the export order had to be met in time, therefore, the exporter
was forced to finish the order on the scheduled date for shipment, otherwise the order
would be automatically cancelled. In order to avoid the risk of cancellation the employers compelled
the workers and children to work throughout the night and on Sundays also.
Employment
The operations which were carried out by boys and girls in the hosiery production, did not vary
much. The operations children performed in general, were: helping the tailors, checking, stitching,
cutting threads, finishing and packing. During factory visits, children were also found at
work in dyeing and bleaching units. Two boys I had seen standing in a container of black paint
(e.g. water mixed with all kinds of chemicals and dyes) while they coloured a piece of fabric. The
boys had to stand in the container with their bare legs and arms for more than 8 hours. The adult
workers mainly did jobs like sampling, pattern making, cutting, stitching, ironing, bleaching, dyeing.
The children started working with simple tasks like folding and arranging the fabrics and
garments. When the children gained experience they were promoted to those responsibilities
which required more skills, such as cutting, stitching and printing. The experienced child worker
earned a higher wage.
During an interview with Sanmuham, a 13 years old boy, who had been working in the hosiery
industry in Tirupur since he was 8 years old, said that when he started working his job consisted
of collecting the fabrics and garments. At that time he received Rs 5 per day. Now he has been
promoted and assists the tailor for Rs 25 per day.
Concerning the opportunity for children to get a better job, the following was found by a
researcher who recently had made a study of child labour in the hosiery industry in Tirupur.
Quoted in a book of a journalist who had visited Tirupur also, this researcher said: '75% of the
Dalit (Backward and Scheduled Caste) families, which live in Tirupur, supply the industry with
their children. Many unit owners in Tirupur are from the lower castes but you can hardly find
people from the Scheduled Castes who have their own manufacturing unit' 92 .
Family size and income, and reason of working
Experts said that a need-based income for an average family is around Rs 2600 per month.
Parents of the interviewed children, whether they worked in the hosiery industry or had other
professions, earned wages which were far below the wage of Rs 2600 per month. Parents who
worked in the hosiery industry earned wages between Rs 800 and Rs 1200 per month. The female
workers earned lower wages than the male workers.
92 Source: Rudi Rotthier, Kinderen van de krokodil. Slavenarbeid in India. Amsterdam, 1995, p. 254, op. cit.