The ailing textile industry of Maharashtra wants the Devendra Fadnavis government to help get it back in the pink of health. The state textile industry federation has requested that the government allow women to take night shifts in the mills. The reason- the mills are facing labour shortages and high attrition rates, and think that women workers would be more sincere than their male counterparts.
LOW WAGES LED TO LABOUR CRUNCH
The poor wages paid by mills make men loath to join the textile sector. Textile workers in Maharashtra earn Rs200-300 a day for an eight-hour shift, while other industries offer Rs400-500 a day. The share of women workers in textile mills ranges from 10-15%.
"Compared with other industries, textile mills have more absenteeism because of lower wages. Workers often switch jobs which drastically affects the production of the company and leads to losses. If the government allows women to work in the third shift too, the labour shortage would be addressed and production would go up," reads a letter dated December 1, sent by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Textile Federation to the Suresh Halwankar committee set up by the state government for the betterment of the textile sector. The federation comprises over 550 mills.
At present, government policy allows mills to place women only in the general shift and the second shift.
The federation says women work sincerely, are less prone to absenteeism and are less likely to change jobs than men.
WOMEN'S SAFETY AN ISSUE
When asked about the safety of the women in the third shift, which usually starts at 10 pm and ends by 6 am, federation president Ashok Swamy says, "Mill owners already provide bus services for the male workers in the third shift. They would do so for women workers too."
CRITICS UNCONVINCED
While mill owners are ecstatic about the proposal, others are apprehensive. A top official from the textile department rejected the idea, saying, "Even if the industrialists provide safe commuting to women workers, how can they ensure their safety inside the mills in the night, especially when these mills are located on city outskirts and in rural areas? This is exactly the reason why the government has not allowed women to work the night shifts in the core production industries."
A Mumbai university professor says, "The move aims to get cheap labour in the form of women, which is highly regressive idea."
The government is yet to make its stand public, because its ministers are in Nagpur for the winter session of the assembly.
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