Garment workers organizing to demand their rights
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| Bangalore has one of the largest garment industries, yet the workers do not have a strong union through which they can voice their demands. Photo credit: Rishabh Chakravorty |
By Rashmi Guha Ray
BANGALORE (Nov. 29)—Sitting in the one-room office of Munnade (Women Garment Workers’ Front) and sipping scalding tea from a steel mug, 45-year-old Malika seemed to be steeling herself to narrate her story. Her eyes flitted from one corner of the room to the other, betraying hints of nervousness, but when she spoke, her voice was stoic, seemingly unaffected by the suffering she was recounting.
Medium height and of medium complexion, Malika (not her real name) looks like any of the lower-middle-class woman we meet, and forget, every day. Only the bruises on her hands speak volumes about her work in the ribbon industry and her tumultuous personal life.
Malika is from Madhur taluk in the Mandya district of south Karnataka. An abusive husband and an ailing son forced this mother of three to move from the security of her four walls to try her luck in a harsh world.
An already difficult situation was made worse by additional responsibilities that she has been forced to shoulder.
“My son is a heart patient and often bleeds from the nose. He is just 17. I want him to study further but he hardly keeps well,” she said sadly, rummaging in her bag to show a reporter a photograph of him. “His medicines cost around Rs. 300 to Rs. 500 per month, and I earn just Rs. 4,000. It’s tough.”
In her native town she had to work because her husband forced her and her brother to give him money. Her only skill was tailoring, but she could only earn Rs. 300 a month doing that, not nearly enough. She had to move to Bangalore.
“The condition was so bad that either I had to die with my children or leave them to earn my living,” she said. “I chose the latter.”
Textile industry big player in Indian economy
Bangalore has a large cotton textile industry that earns huge profits through exports. An article by D. Rajasekhar and R. Manjula in the B.C. Prabhakar-edited “Gender Sensitivity at Workplace” (International Labor Organization, Geneva, 2006), says that following the liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991, India’s garment industry has been growing at a rapid rate, contributing to 16 percent of the total export earnings in that period. In 1960-61, the export value was around $2 million, in 1980-81 it rose to $696 million, it was $2.24 billion in 1990-91, and in 1999-2000, it reached $4.77 billion.
A report by the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Institute says garment industries contribute 14 percent to the country’s industrial produce and 4 percent to gross domestic product.
Major international brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Marks & Spencer and Mothercare mostly employ cheap labor from Karnataka, 80 percent of whom are female.
The workers in this profitable industry are largely ignorant of their rights to unionize and organize themselves.
The garment industry prefers female labor because the general belief is that female workers are cheaper, more docile and obedient and have lesser bargaining power than men.
Activist’s coworkers abandoned her
This maintenance of this status quo drives most production managers to try to curb active unionism in the garment industries of Bangalore.
Malika (not here real name), working with Bombay Rayon Fashion Ltd.’s 18th unit, remembers her tough days in a Texport Group of Industries ribbon factory. The workers had demanded three months’ salary before the unit was closed down. Malika, being active in the union, could never be a favorite with her bosses.
“I have been verbally abused, threatened and harassed in my workplace by my bosses,” she says. “I was locked up in the office, for over three hours and was not even allowed to eat or go to toilet. They abused me and almost hit me.”
She recalled bitterly that not even her coworkers, for whom she fought, supported her.
“I could have killed myself, but I did not give up and fought back,” she said.
Today Malika is fighting a case against her previous employer on charges of harassment and abuse.
A report by the CIVIDEP nongovernmental organization that works on labor issues throughout India says about half of the laborers in the garment industry are not aware of their right to form unions and about their freedom to join or leave any industry.
Seamstress suspended for 6 months on half pay
Rukmini has been a seamstress since 1992. Since 1998, she has been working with Texport Overseas Group Company. It was only in March 2006 that Rukmini joined the union which made her bosses very uncomfortable.
“They even offered me a loan on cheap interest rates, in exchange for quitting the self-help group I was a part of,” she said.
She remembers the time when 11 members of her factory were fired without prior notice. She was suspended for enquiry for six months with half pay while the factory owners investigated her role in the labor unrest that led to those terminations.
Mary, a member of Munnade, says garment workers are not informed about their rights to provident fund, gratuity or pension benefits. Often they are forced to resign after working for five years and paid a one-time lump sum. Those who protest about their conditions are subjected to discrimination and abuse.
Nagaraja, the production manager of Texport Creations, refused to comment on the issue while repeated calls to the human resources manager, Mr. Shanmuga, went unanswered.
The garment industry has a booming market today, yet its workers are paid hardly Rs. 4,000 a month. Without any union and job security, they cannot raise their voice in protest.
The architects of the latest fashion trends slave for eight or nine hours a day without even half the pay they deserve. If they are pregnant they have to work until 15 days before their delivery and they have to leave their babies and come back to work before their children are even 3 months old.
Most keep quiet but there are few like Malika and Rukmini who fight for their rights.
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| Here, women are made to work endlessly but not encouraged to speak their minds. Photo credit: Rishabh Chakravorty |
“I left my old job, but my old boss joined my new company as well,” Malika said. “I am abused every day and blamed unfairly for every little problem, yet I will fight.”
“Even if the machine does not work, I am blamed in the factory. Other workers are not allowed to associate with me,” Rukmini said.
“With FDI being allowed in industry, it will be tougher for workers to fight for their rights in a unified manner,” said Geetha Menon, a social activist.
Rukmini and Malika said they would “fight till the end for all our rights” now that they are conscious of their rights.
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