The Hindu Business Line : `Garment workers worse off now than a decade ago'

Garment workers world over are worse off now than they were a decade ago and intense activity in the name of corporate social responsibility could bring about little improvement in their workplace conditions, according to the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF)

"If anything, conditions have worsened in the past 10 years, especially since the advent of trade liberalisation in textiles and clothing. Everywhere the story is similar: long hours of work, low wages, workers cheated of benefits and denied fundamental rights," said Mr Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the Federation.

He said garment buyers, the brands and the retailers could not continue to put all the blame for this situation on the suppliers.

The ITGLWF leader, who was speaking at the annual industry conference of the association of suppliers to the British Clothing Industry, said too many brands and retailers suffered from split personality. On the one hand, they claimed they wanted their code of conduct respected, on the other, they engaged in purchasing practices that make it impossible, paying pitiful prices and demanding unrealistic delivery schedules.

Buyers were rewarded for squeezing every extra penny out of the supplier rather than on the social compliance of supplier concerned. Mr Kearney said compliance mechanisms were failing in the backdrop of the social auditors being poorly trained, inadequately prepared for individual audits rush through factories while working by rote from checklists.

He pointed out that auditors recently gave a clean chit to a Cambodian factory engaged in a conflict with its unionised workforce.

Union leaders were dismissed, legal action was pending but the auditors deliberately ignored all this.

In another incident, the auditors described the `Spectrum Garments' of Bangladesh as a `good factory', which collapsed killing 64 workers. Auditors regularly certify Chinese factories where research had shown that 9 out of 10 were not in compliance even with China's own labour code.

While conditions worsen, the trend is towards shorter audits with European retailers `unbelievably' suggesting now that half a day audit is sufficient, according to ITGLWF.

Finally, Mr Kearney called for the brands and retailers stopping the hand-wringing and adopting a straightforward approach of seeking their suppliers to pay for a living wage for a standard working week which doest not exceed 48 hours and respect the right to organise and bargain collectively.

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