Anannya Bhatacharjee, who is heading an NGO – Garment and Allied Workers Union, is back again with vengeance to expose the Indian garment manufacturers on the workers’ rights violation.
A report, prepared by her team for and on behalf of Society for Labour and Development (SLD), makes serious allegations against four top Indian exporters – Orient Craft, Pearl Global, Pyoginam, and Tets N Rai that are working majorly for apparel retailer GAP. Anannya, who is also a coordinator with Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), a supply chain lobby group, states that the report is based on the interview of total 50 workers of these companies. All casual and contract workers interviewed for this study worked for 9 to 17 hours per day. In two of the four factories surveyed, piece-rate workers reported that their work was not measured in time but in pieces, therefore they had no mechanisms to account for overtime. In all four factories, ‘all 50 workers’ reported that women are fired from their jobs during pregnancy period.
The report claims that these companies employed a non-standard workforce, including short-term contract workers, daily wage workers and workers who work on piece-rate. It also states that conditions of work varied for different categories of workers; contract and casual workers reported working longer hours and receiving fewer leaves when compared to permanent workers. Contract and casual workers also reported receiving single rather than double overtime payment.
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As per the report, the Manesar unit of Tets N Rai (Sector 4, Plot 42), which has total workforce of 700, is contracted from Balaji Enterprises, a contractor operating from Gurgaon. Balaji ensures that no worker is employed for a continuous period of five years, to avoid payment of gratuity. Instead contracts are terminated upon reaching four years and then renewed, making workers to re-join from a new ‘start date’. Loss of seniority impacts workers’ right to receive social security benefits.
The report (Precarious Work in the Gap Global Value Chain) presented by The Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) was prepared after interviewing 150 workers, in India and Indonesia, engaged to manufacture for GAP.
Apparel Online India magazine will follow up the story in detail in the June 16-30 issue.
