The Hindu Business Line : Textile stalemate

In a welcome move towards labour reforms in the textile industry, the Centre recently held a conference to discuss the vexatious issue of flexible employment and longer hours of work. Predictably, the conference ended without a consensus. But the fact that the various stakeholders representing opposing interests participated in the conclave must be considered a refreshing departure from the past when labour representatives would rather have taken to the streets than sit at the same table with `vested interests'. The meeting was attended by industry representatives, unions and the Agriculture, Commerce and Textile Ministers, suggesting the importance attached to the review. Pertinently, States also participated in the discussion, thereby extending the scope for a wider consensus on the reforms under consideration.

It is hardly surprising that the unions did not accept any of the proposals put forward by the industry — extending the working hours from 48 to 60 a week or permitting contract labour in what was termed a `seasonal' industry, despite assurances of guaranteed employment for hundred days a year. The matter has ended in a stalemate with unions having stymied the proposed changes towards what they would consider `sweatshop' conditions. But from the viewpoint of their constituency, the 12 unions that attended the conference ought to take a closer look at the changing character of the industry and employment in India before the next round of discussions. Various studies have shown that over the last decade job generation has not been commensurate with economic growth though wages, especially in the upper echelons of skilled labour, have risen. Contract labour, on the other hand, has shown a rising trend especially in the textile industry; in the mid-1990s, 12 per cent of the total workforce was on contract. In 2002 that figure had risen to 23 per cent.

It is remarkable that the most strike prone industry and also arguably the most mismanaged, should have, over the last decade, become profitable once again, revamping itself to become a force to rcckon with in the global markets with value-added products. The process has involved technological changes with a focus on productivity and a consequent restructuring of the workforce with the rise in flexible employment. The 12 unions must accept the fact of systemic changes in the industry and the trend towards contract labour and focus their attention on optimising the conditions of work and pay in the new environment. They can learn a lesson from China that has overhauled its labour laws to create a mobile workforce that enjoys higher pay, redeployment and self-employment alternatives. Unions can also take comfort from the recent report of the National Commission for Enterprises and the Unorganised Sector that includes organised sector workers without social security in its recommendations. The textile industry has benefited because it has kept abreast of the times; the unions must follow suit.

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