Woman unempowered

The plight of garment workers shows that for many women the factory is like jumping into the fire after escaping from the domestic firpan

BANGALORE: Before you shell out a few grands on global-brand shirt, just pause to think about the underpaid, over-worked hands that made it.

Mallige, a garment worker in Bangalore, and many like her make that shirt for you.
Married to an alcoholic and unable to endure dowry harassment, Mallige left her matrimonial home with her three children. She moved to Bangalore from Malavalli town in Manday district to support her family. Since two years she has been working at  Rebound garment factory in Peenya industrial area.

Though Malige could break-free from domestic violence, she sees no escape from harassment at her workplace. "Verbal abuses are very common in garment factories. We can't even drink water in peace. If we are late by even a minute, the supervisor abuses us and asks us to resign. We have no other choice but to work as I have to provide education to my children," says Mallige.

Many women working in the garment factories in Bangalore face similar harassment. Nearly 50 to 60 percent women working in this industry are either deserted or single mothers. They work for a pittance of Rs 2,500 per month in unsafe working conditions.

The death of Ammu, a 25-year-old migrant garment factory worker, in February 10, 2007 is a grave reminder of the unsafe working atmosphere. Ammu had committed suicide inside the toilet of her factory unable to bear the constant harassment by her male supervisors.

The garment industry in Bangalore predominantly comprise of women, who form 85-90 per cent of the workforce. This makes it the second largest employer of women after the beedi industry. According to 2007 statistics available with the Labour Department, Bangalore shelters around 858 factories employing 1,95,943.Women form the large majority of the working force with their number reaching up to 1,31,898.

"Right now, according to Labour department there are 5.5 lakh garment workers in the city. But actually the working force would reach up to around 8 lakh. And the majority of them employed in this unorganised sector are unskilled labourers," said Muttappa of Garment Workers' Union.

High production targets
The growth in textile industry has unfortunately eroded the welfare of the employees. "The garment workers are forced to meet high production targets of about 100-120 pieces per hour, thrice the target set 10 years ago. This has worsened the condition of workers," said Muttappa.

He also added that garment workers were forced to work for more than eight hours and were not paid for the over time (OT). "The management doesn't pay for the extra work we do with the excuse that it is our job to meet the production targets. Most of them work even for ten hours a day. We don't get incentives or increments. It is even difficult to claim our PF money," said Krishna K R, a garment worker.

Violation of Labour Laws
There is gross violation of labour laws in the garment industries here. "The violation of labour laws starts when a worker is made to sign on a blank sheet on the day of his appointment. There is no framework of agreement of contract made and this makes the termination of the employee easy," says K P Gopinath, Director of Civil Initiatives for Peace and Development (CIVIDEP), an NGO working among garment workers.

"Worst is that in many factories, the employees are re-appointed even if they have worked for more than 8 years in order to evade the payment of gratuity. And more so, if a worker is found to be associated with any trade union. Because of this, the workers are very scared to be part of unions. Thereby, denying the scope for collective bargaining as well," he added.

On Protest
Demanding better, the Garment Workers' Union had organized a protest in Bangalore on Wednesday. At least 4,000 workers participated. For this protest, many garment units in Mysore Road , Bommanahalli, Peenya, Nelamangala, Doddaballapur, Ramanagara, Bidadi and Sunkadakatte were closed.

"The garment workers are paid only Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 now. We want our pay to be increased to Rs 6,000 per month. With the money we are being paid, we are finding it difficult to provide even basic amenities to our children," said Mahesh D, a garment worker.

Contesting that the garment workers were demanding more than the stipulated minimum wages, Labour Commissioner M S Ravishankar said that the Labour Department had revised the minimum wages and submitted it to the government. "The garment workers are demanding Rs 6,000 per month, which is more than the minimum wages. In such circumstances, we can only organize a conciliation meet between the garment factory management and workers' union. This meeting will be held shortly," said the Labour Commissioner.

Putting forth their demands, the workers' union also submitted a memorandum to the Governor on Wednesday.

Demands
The demands put forth by the Garment Workers' Union:
1. The government should implement the Factories Act 1948
2. Set up a committee to fix the production target per hour.
3. The global buyer companies should give a better production rate. Right now, they pay $5 for a piece of shirt and sell it for Rs 3,000.
4. Housing schemes should be provided for the garment workers.
5. All the garment factories should allow workers to form unions

The textile industry is the second largest employer after agriculture. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) statistics reveal that the textile industry provides direct employment to over 35 million people. It contributes to around 17 per cent of the country's exports and is estimated to grow to a whopping 15 million dollars by the year 2012.