Now, a labour clause to make garment exporters clean up their act
MADE in Dignity". That’s what the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), a joint effort by eight non-governmental organisations, aims at ensuring in export-oriented garment manufacture. Initiated in the Netherlands, the CCC has taken up cudgels for bettering the conditions of workers in apparel export units worldwide.
Typically, European retail chains buy their garments from exporters in Asia, Latin America and East Europe. Studies indicate that workers in these units are paid wages far lower than even the minimum wages in their respective countries; they work several hours beyond stipulated timing and female workers often have to treat sexual harassment as just another occupational hazard.
Conditions are no different in India. Workers in most unorganised units (which incidentally account for 98 per cent of the labour force of the garment export business) are paid up to Rs 40 per day against the stipulated Rs 80. Work hours extend to 12 hours a day and seven days a week against the eight-hour day and six-day week stipulation. Those working from home earn half the amount. And workers in countries like Bangladesh are worse off.
Unfair, since the garments they make retail for astronomical prices in fashion capitals. Labour costs account for barely 5 per cent of the retail price of the final product.
It is to arrest such malpractices that the CCC has drawn up a fair trade charter, and is asking retailers worldwide to sign up. Conditions include paying workers a minimum wage; work hours prescribed by the International Trade Organisation; the right to participate in union activity and organise themselves for collective bargaining; maintenance of safety and health standards; employment of workers of a certain minimum age and equal treatment for all.
But unlike ‘Rugmark’ for carpets which has to be signed by the carpet manufacturer, here the CCC is putting the onus on the retailer. He has to monitor the fair practice of his suppliers. "That eventually every manufacturer or buyer worldwide will fall in line is for sure," says a confident Chanda Korgaokar, Indian representative at the CCC.
But problems are likely to surface in the implementation. Says Vijay Agarwal, director of the Rs 110-crore Creative Garments Group: "While this (monitoring) may not be impossible, theoretically it appears unfeasible." What makes the task daunting is the largely unorganised workforce in a splintered industry. Agarwal, for instance, employs 3,000 workers directly while more are employed indirectly through sub-contractors. There are 1,000 active garment exporters in this Rs 15,000-crore industry in India. It’s even more difficult for an internationally centralised body to monitor this at a local level. During its visit to India in September ’95, the CCC could not look up even these workers.
Retailers, on the other hand, are anxious about their trade secrets leaking out with such monitoring. Currently, the CCC is looking at a range of monitoring systems to ensure that exporters honour the agreement. It’s considering an independent body—which would act like an auditor—to do the job. "The solution may lie in the CCC locating an independent affiliate in each country with no vested interests which can work at the grass-root level," says Korgaokar. He voices another concern. Taking advantage of the sundry human rights campaigns advocating different strategies and goals, the retailers could well "divide and conquer".
On their side, Indian exporters plead they are not averse to improving the wages of their workers, but given their "wafer-thin net margins of 3 to 5 per cent", it’s impractical to do so. Assures Ineke Zeldenrust of SOMO, one of the major promoters of the CCC: "Even if labour costs are doubled and all costs transferred to the retailer (in Europe), the difference isn’t much as labour accounts for just 5 per cent of retail price." Zeldenrust, in fact, sees only benefit in the exercise. "By including labour relations as an important clause, along with quality and delivery time, the buyer will be forced to develop long-term, stable relations with supplier-exporters. Both parties would stand to gain from such fidelity."
The CCC has already started the first phase of its work. End consumers in Europe are being sensitised through media advertisements. Campaigns in countries like Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK have taken off well.
And while their message has yet to reach the Apparel Export Promotion Council and exporters in India, a few like Agarwal claim that they are already signing a declaration with their buyers stating an adherence to labour laws. About time too, since the CCC is expected to be effective in India by the yearend. And for the poor worker suffering from fatigue, overwork and appalling working conditions, there may be hope yet.