The Hindu Business Line : Textile units cheer move to allow women work late night

THE Central Government's decision to amend the Factories Act to allow women to work in night shift between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. has cheered the textile sector, which have been calling for labour reforms in the face of what they call a shortfall in competitive labour to tackle global trade.

The textile sector, with diverse downstream manufacturing processes, offers enormous scope to employ women in big numbers, especially in the semi-urban and rural areas.

The region's two strong textile industries associations, the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) and the Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), have welcomed the Centre's move.

The move has come at a time when a host of textile industries in Tamil Nadu are worried over the prospects of the issue getting into a protracted legal wrangle.

The Tamil Nadu Government, which had preferred an appeal against the ruling of the single judge passed in this matter in 2000, has been moving to hear the case before a Division Bench of the Madras High Court and this is expected to happen any time now.

The textile industries, including the garment units in Tamil Nadu, have been engaging women workers in the night shift ever since they had obtained a legal breather in the form of an interim stay against Section 66 of the Factories Act granted by the Madras High Court in 1997.

Allowing the writ petitions and passing final ruling in 2000, Mr Justice E. Padmanabhan struck down the provisions of Section 66 as unconstitutional.

The relief from the High Court was, of course, available only in respect of individual units that sought the stay.

The State Government, by virtue of being the enforcement agency, could at the most give permission on specific request from mills to employ women workers only between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. and from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.

But even such cases, permission is to be renewed every year by the State Government subject to the industrial units fulfilling all the laid down conditions such as safety and security of the women at work and transportation between their place of work and residence.

"The Government's decision is positive and goes along with the larger sentiments of the people in the industry," said Mr Vijay Venkataswamy, Chairman of the Southern India Mills Association.

There has been a crying need, according to him, for a change in the labour laws especially when the textile sector has entered a new trade environment.

Stating that he would like to wait to see the fine print of the Government proposal, the SIMA chief said that the industry too played its part straight by meeting its social obligation and adhering to the rules.

"TEA, which has time and again aired its view on the need for relaxing the labour laws to cope with the changing global textile trade and export marketing, welcomes the latest move," said Mr R.M. Subramaniam, adviser to the association.

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