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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According to SIMHA, 'the Government should, in its effort to eliminate child labour, give first
priority to educate the parents on the issue, and should try to improve their economic status
through higher income- generating projects'.
4.7 Analysis of the industry's declarations to end child labour in the hosiery
industry
The commitment made by the Tirupur Export Association (TEA) in August 1995, that it has not
made use of child labourers any more in their production units, has not been fulfilled for it was
observed in this study that still children were found working in units which are a member to TEA.
The proposal made by TEA which concerns the training of women to employ them part-time in
the hosiery industry, if implemented, could be a step in the right direction of eliminating child
labour, and, simultaneously, raising the family income by giving adult women new job
opportunities. But it should be mentioned here that the training of the women should go together
with permanent employment, creche facilities, a 'living' wage, the active participation of labour
unions to supervise the compliance with the labour and factory laws, and active participation of
the Labour Inspectors of the Government to check the premises regularly and immediately fine
the employers who violate the law. Otherwise, as soon as the women leave the training, they are
still vulnerable to exploitation such as long working hours and compulsory overtime work 97 .
Such kind of initiatives should therefore be watched carefully, otherwise again children will drop
out of school or start working again, like, for example, in the household. Concerning the wages of
women, it should be mentioned that women are paid less than men because of the unskilled
nature of the job and/or because they regularly shift from one unit/place to the other.
In addition, the total package of expenditures of the families with working children should be
investigated also. Only then can it be seen how much the costs are when a child stops working. It
should also be taken into account that when women - often living with many family members and
a lot of children - start working, the need arises to keep the children, especially girls, at home to
manage the household and take care of the siblings.
From the declaration given by SIMHA, it can be concluded that the Association is waiting for the
Government to take action and open non-formal education schools. In 1993, a tripartite meeting
resolved that each factory should take the moral responsibility of providing informal education to
the children. At the time of my visit to Tirupur I have not come across or heard of the existence of
any (informal) education provided by exporters in Tirupur.
SIMHA says that 'the Government should in its effort to eliminate child labour, give first priority
to, among other things, improving the economic status of parents through higher incomegenerating
projects'. This statement rather is a call for enforcement of the Minimum Wages Act
and other related labour legislation, which will never be encouraged by employers.
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97 In Bangalore, Ms Kanta, programme officer of the NGO 'Shramik Vidyapeeth' (semi-governmental organization) said they had trained
100 women in tailoring garments with the aim they would immediately get a job with a little better earnings. It was true that most of the
women got a job in a garment factory. But, due to the enormous work pressure and overtime work, which could not be combined with the
household, the majority of the women dropped out again. The training, though qualifying them, could not prevent that.