TOUGH JOB: File picture of women employees arriving at a garment factory in Bangalore. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Bangalore: Rani's (name changed) hands have become as rough as the "distressed look" jeans she works on, that are currently a fad in the market. She has to rub sandpaper on the garment for long hours every day to produce that look, and her palms sting.

There are many such stories within the four walls of the garment-manufacturing units in Bangalore — there is no respite from the back-breaking work or the constant harassment by supervisors.

Even though the employment practices in garment units are slowly changing for the benefit of workers of late, mostly because of large companies setting up units here, in several factories unhealthy work conditions still prevail and workers are not even paid the prescribed minimum wages.

Many garment workers, 80 per cent of whom are women, have developed health problems such as tuberculosis, asthma and eye and back problems.

Growth

K.R. Jayaram, vice-president of the Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU), said there had been tremendous growth in the garment industry in Bangalore in the last couple of years, and in one year alone as many as 10 factories have set up shop here.

Most of the garment units are located at Peenya Industrial Area, Mysore Road and Hosur Road.

"Since there are many units now, there is a demand for skilled workers, therefore they are paid slightly better salary. The unskilled workers are the most harassed and underpaid. Hire-and-fire policy still exists and workers are shouted at and ridiculed for the slightest error," he said.

According to V.P. Rukmini, general secretary of GATWU, who has worked in the garment industry for more than 10 years, there is too much pressure on the workers to turn out a particular number of finished pieces a day and they are sometimes forced to stay beyond their working hours.

"The supervisors and production workers put a lot of pressure on the workers and they work under immense stress."

Any attempts at unionisation are met with threats of dismissal and, because of this, the workers are very scared to be part of unions for fear of losing their jobs. "Our union was formed only a few months ago. Till then the workforce was largely unorganised," she added.

Minimum wages

The current minimum wage fixed by the Government is Rs. 82 a day for an unskilled worker and Rs. 88 a day for a skilled worker. But, according to workers, many employers are not paying the minimum wages to their workers.

Labour Department statistics say that there are 797 garment units here and 1.4 lakh workers are employed in these units. But, according to the workers union, there are more than 1,000 units in Bangalore and close to four lakh people work in these units.

A representative of a voluntary organisation told The Hindu that many units employ underage girls, even though the labour laws prohibit persons under 18 years of age from working in garment units.

Labour Department officials say that there is a dearth of labour inspectors to check all units. But they maintained that since garment units are export-oriented, most of the big companies implement strict international labour standards.

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