Textile Industry
IV. Labour Processes
Tirupur garments cluster employs large number of workers who migrate from 18 southern districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the recent past workers from other parts of India, viz. U.P.
Bihar, Orissa, Manipur, Nagaland and also from Nepal used to come and work in Tirupur.
Women workers are employed in large numbers in exporting units involving them in stitching, folding, checking and packaging jobs. In the knitting and embroidery workshops the share of female workers is less but in a large number of firms they do the checking job. There use to be four basic occupational grades in every unit in Tirupur, viz., helper, machine operator, supervisor and foreman. Vertical mobility is higher in knitting units but workers also choose to shift from working in knitting to dyeing and printing units because knitting job requires relatively hard work. Right to association and other trade union rights, though legally exists but at the enterprise level there is no trade union in Tirupur. However, at the district level at least at the wage negotiation process trade unions use to play a significant role. In regard to benefits, ESI facilities and Provident Fund are provided to a core segment of workers and these facilities are available to not more than 20 per cent of the total workforce. In record shifts are always mentioned as eight hours of work but in actual terms normally it is twelve hours, that is one-and-a-half shift
19
and beyond that although overtime is paid but it is not double wages as stipulated by labour laws.
Payment of wages is generally on a weekly basis and in most of the units, as stated by owners’ representatives, it is paid on the basis of minimum wages as declared by the government of
Tamil Nadu. However, this is only partially true because there used to be a complex procedure of maintaining records of wages and benefits received by the workers and in most of the cases it is doctored according to the legal liabilities
Tirupur garments cluster employs large number of workers who migrate from 18 southern districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the recent past workers from other parts of India, viz. U.P.
Bihar, Orissa, Manipur, Nagaland and also from Nepal used to come and work in Tirupur.
Women workers are employed in large numbers in exporting units involving them in stitching, folding, checking and packaging jobs. In the knitting and embroidery workshops the share of female workers is less but in a large number of firms they do the checking job. There use to be four basic occupational grades in every unit in Tirupur, viz., helper, machine operator, supervisor and foreman. Vertical mobility is higher in knitting units but workers also choose to shift from working in knitting to dyeing and printing units because knitting job requires relatively hard work. Right to association and other trade union rights, though legally exists but at the enterprise level there is no trade union in Tirupur. However, at the district level at least at the wage negotiation process trade unions use to play a significant role. In regard to benefits, ESI facilities and Provident Fund are provided to a core segment of workers and these facilities are available to not more than 20 per cent of the total workforce. In record shifts are always mentioned as eight hours of work but in actual terms normally it is twelve hours, that is one-and-a-half shift
19
and beyond that although overtime is paid but it is not double wages as stipulated by labour laws.
Payment of wages is generally on a weekly basis and in most of the units, as stated by owners’ representatives, it is paid on the basis of minimum wages as declared by the government of
Tamil Nadu. However, this is only partially true because there used to be a complex procedure of maintaining records of wages and benefits received by the workers and in most of the cases it is doctored according to the legal liabilities