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Tamil Nadu
TIRUPUR: With the U.K. retail chain Primark axing three knitwear export firms here for allegedly engaging child labour in garment production, officials of the Labour and Revenue Departments and the police conducted a raid at the refugee camp at Bhavanisagar in Erode district on Wednesday. Joint Commissioner of Labour, Coimbatore, A. Thangavelu, who ordered the raid, told The Hindu that the team inspected the settlements and schools. Sources said 850 families of Sri Lankan refugees were residing there. While a majority of them are employed in quarries, painting and masonry, many often do embroidery and sequin works through sub-agents from Tirupur. They are paid Re. 1-Rs.10 a piece. “During the raid, we found that only adult members of the families were doing the work. As many as 748 children from the refugee settlement are studying in four schools,” a senior official said. He said the team found no children aged below 14 working. . Primark’s decision has set the alarm bell ringing among the exporters here. Expressing the hope that this would not damage the reputation of Tirupur as a favourite destination for sourcing knitwear products, Tirupur Exporters’ Association secretary G. Karthikeyan urged the exporters to be more vigilant in future. “There will be more inspections by representatives of major brands, besides third-party auditors, while their orders are being filled. The buyers will be more careful, and we need to be extra vigilant.” Mr. Karthikeyan cautioned the exporters to be careful while entrusting sub-contractors with works; they should ensure that the sub-contractors followed the social accountability norms. A cross-section of the exporters said they should be more careful while executing orders that required much workmanship. “It is a normal practice to hand over a small quantity of sequin works to households through agents. We don’t employ children in our factories, but there will be no possibility of monitoring, if the work is to be executed elsewhere. Since it involves the reputation of firms, the exporters won’t take any risk,” an exporter said. The bigger factories that have adequate workers and facilities to execute the order on their premises will be in a position to accept orders without any hesitation. But they will charge more, as compliance with the norms will push up the cost of production, another exporter said.
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