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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children did not have time to play or relax. Most of the children arrived home late in the evening,
ate their meals and went to bed or had to help in the household, especially girls. The children also
attended education in the evening hours because their parents wanted them to continue their
studies apart from working. The children were exhausted because they attended classes from 6
p.m. to 8 p.m., after a long day of work. Thus education in the non-formal education centre deprived
them of their precious free time.
All the children expressed that they never had time to play because if they did not have to work
overtime they had to attend classes at the education centre or had to help in the household,
especially girl children. Sundays, were often spent in the factory too when the employer wanted
them to finish export orders in time.
Joyti Krishnan is a girl of 14 and had been working for the last 4 years in the hosiery industry in
Tirupur. She explained that there is hardly any time to go to the education centre. She said:
'After the work in the factory I rush home because I have to help my mother with cleaning the
vessels, collecting water, sweeping etc. There is never time to play because then I have to go to
sleep.'
Working conditions
The visited garment manufacturing units, all had toilet, washing and drinking water facilities.
They were often badly ventilated but sufficiently lit. Especially in the parts of the manufacturing
units where the knitting machines were, the air was polluted with millions of cotton fibres. It was
very difficult to breathe in these knitting rooms. In the units where the bleaching and dyeing was
done, the air was highly polluted with chemical dust. During factory visits, many children were
found at work inside these bleaching and dyeing units also.
The majority of the units was spacious. In the units there were no canteens available but the employer
mostly provided the workers with tea. The tea was only given during overtime work and in
the night- shift. The children did not have sufficient breaks during work and the units did not
have play facilities for the children.
Statutory benefits and labour unions
The workers in the visited units were not getting any statutory benefits, they were not permanent
and not registered. Even in the registered units of big exporters, workers did not get statutory
benefits. Because the workers were paid according to piece rate system instead of getting a
minimum wage for 8 hours work, they worked 12 to 16 hours per day to finish more garments to
earn a higher wage.
Exporters said openly that they did not allow workers to join labour unions. They also said that
they deliberately scattered their units to avoid labour problems because 'it is difficult to manage a
large group of workers'.
Health hazards
All the interviewed children suffered from exhaustion and most of the children suffered regularly
from Typhoid or fever in the first year of employment. Boy children said that they were regularly
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