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Low wages, long working hours, bane of women workers

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

HIGHLIGHTING WOMEN’S WOES: Akiko Gono, secretary, International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation-Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation, speaking in Puducherry recently.

PUDUCHERRY: Women workers of textile and garment industries in many South Asian countries have been beset with low wages, long working hours and poor health facilities against the backdrop of globalisation, Akiko Gono, secretary, International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation-Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation (ITGLWF-APRO), said on Friday.

Ms. Gono, who is here to take part in a meeting of the women study circle leaders, told The Hindu that there were many cases of sexual harassment of women in textile and various other industries, especially in the South Asian countries. “What has appeared is only the tip of the iceberg.” Furthermore, the women workers found it tough to prove cases of sexual harassment, so they should be made aware of the need to represent their problems to unions. Union functionaries, she said, should be trained to play a pro-active role in protecting the workers from harassment. Describing textile and garment industries as “women’s industries,” Ms. Gono said the wages paid to the women workers were low, but the gap was wider in South Asia. In countries, including India and Bangladesh, women working in garment units had to slog it out for a pittance. The health and safety conditions were so bad that the women had to grapple with infant and maternal mortality. In some places, women were not granted maternity leave. Ms. Gono said the prevalence of bonded and child labour in some units could not be tolerated. “These systems should be eliminated.”

Another serious problem globalisation engendered was exploitation of workers, especially women, by multi-national corporations, “If you don’t accept our terms and conditions, we will move to some other country,” is the MNCs’ refrain in the world where boundaries are disappearing, she said.

The silver lining in the prevailing scenario was that some MNCs making branded sportswear had come forward to fulfil their corporate social responsibilities. But, what was important, was to sensitise their suppliers to the labour laws.

Ms. Gono also favoured tripartite dialogues, modernisation and awareness creation in the developed countries to safeguard the waning domestic handloom sector.

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