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

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Adult labour in the garment export industry of Bangalore
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article, says: 'when we start for the day, we have absolutely no idea about the closing time. We
just have to continue till whenever the bell rings'. In the same article Leelakrishnan, a trade unionist
and practising advocate, says: 'most of the companies do not maintain records of employees
and in the absence of any proof regarding the length of their service, it can be terminated at any
time. This is one of the biggest hurdles we face. And none of the other employees will testify in
the victim's favour in fear of losing their own jobs'.
Several people from the industry said that the garment industry in Bangalore is well organized,
and the handful successful exporters make higher investments in technology and machinery than
for example in Tirupur or Delhi. The Ministry of Commerce in Bangalore has registered 182 big
units and 1283 medium/small units till date. The labour union is active in most of the registered
units, of which the number is rather limited. In the majority of the unregistered units the labour
unions are totally absent. As everywhere in the garment industry of India, the largest part of the
production is done through subcontracting. This is only done in times of high demand for
garments. The owners often do business with their own relatives and the profits are shared among
the family members. The workers in the subcontracted unit in Bangalore are not shared in the
profits. Promotion is never given to workers and the high level jobs are only given to relatives
and friends 103 . The reason for subcontracting, like in other main textile centres, is to avoid labour
legislation and income tax. The rationale used by the employers is everywhere the same: cost
minimization and maximizing profits. The garment export industry is well suited for the implementation
of this rationale.
5.2 Cheap female workforce: the causes
The total workforce of the garment industry in Bangalore is estimated at 250,000 104 workers of
which 80 per cent 105 is female. In Bangalore more women than men are employed in the garment
industry because they are cheaper 106 .
A second reason which caused the high influx of women into the industry are the countless tailoring
centres which operate on a stipendiary basis, and were raised and sponsored by Government
bodies like the Women's Development Department Corporation, Industrial Training Institutes,
and private institutions 107 . These centres were created with the idea to decrease unemployment
and underemployment in and around Bangalore, and to offer women training facilities
103 During field visits, a woman was interviewed who had stopped working in a garment manufacturing unit in Bangalore because she
could not combine work with raising her children. She was a supervisor at a leather cutting department, which is very unusual because women
mostly are not employed in these high-level jobs. The woman said that her uncle was the manager of the factory and had given her the job. She
started in a probationary period of 6 month and earned Rs 800 per month, after several years her wage was increased to Rs 3,000 per month.
104 The Sunday, January 8, 1995, ibid.
105 Deccan Herald, March 11, 1995. 'Sewn up by dire need'.
106 According to labour experts in Bangalore, next to lower wages, other reasons why employers in general prefer women above men, are:
women do not demand more payments, women are not organized and do not strike, women are more disciplined and sincere, and are easier to
control by the management.
107 Deccan Herald, April 3, 1993. 'A stitch in time', written by Bhargavi Nagaraja.