LABOUR

• The garment industry exemplifies the

challenges of global manufacturing: low
wages, "flexible" contracts (or no contracts),
and poor working conditions. Informal
garment and textile workers, a huge workforce
in some countries, are often invisible —
especially those who work in their homes. But
garment workers are organizing, and policy
gains are being made.
 Complex Global Chains and Cheap
Labour
• Garment production is easily dispersed. Firms in
developed countries outsource to developing
countries, while those in developing countries move
production within and between countries to find the
cheapest labour. While garment production offers
much-needed investment and employment in poorer
countries, competition requires “poorer countries to
offer the cheapest workers and the most flexible
(unregulated) conditions”.
• The individuals--mostly women--and small enterprises
who count on the work have little power or security.
 Home-Based Workers Bear the
Burden of Cheap Production
• To compete, manufacturers often outsource
production to those who work at home, which shifts
the burden of production costs from the manufacturer
to the worker. These costs eat away the very low piece
rates that homeworkers earn. A recent WIEGO study
found that sub-contracted garment workers:
• in Ahmedabad, India, earn between US$0.43 and
US$4.32 per day, but most earn under US$2.00;
• in Lahore, Pakistan, most earn between US$0.25 and
US$5.21, but many earn under US$1.00.
• Workers reported that if they ask for better wages,
they are told the work will be given to someone else.
 Statistical Snapshot

• In many countries, the garment industry is the largest

employer in manufacturing. However, garment workers are
often informally employed and home-based─thus invisible
and rarely represented in national statistics (Chen, Sebstad,
and O'Connell 1999).
• In Thailand, the garment industry is the largest export
industry, accounting for 60 per cent of total exports (NSO
2012). A survey by the National Statistics Office found that,
among subcontracted workers, about half of non-agricultural
home-based employment was related to garments and
textiles (NSO 2007). Thailand’s Office of Homeworker
Protection (OHWP) estimated there were over 950,000
homeworkers in 2005, the majority women. HomeNet
Thailand believes the number could be as high as 2 million.
• In Bangladesh the garment industry is the
principal export earner for that country. In the
late 1990s, it employed an estimated 350,000
workers in formal and semi-formal employment,
making it the fourth largest employing sector
(Bajaj 1999: 19). Although there are no estimates
on the number of home-based garment workers,
the Bangladesh Home Workers Association
(BHWA) believes there are millions of home-
based garment workers, as entire rural families
are involved in traditional embroidery work
 IEMS findings on earnings confirmed
low incomes
• In Ahmedabad, the average monthly turnover
(gross earnings before deducting any input costs)
for the study’s garment workers was 2,337
rupees (about US$42). They reported working
over 23 hours in the week preceding the survey.
• In Bangkok among self-employed garment
workers, the average daily turnover was 845 baht
(approx. US $28) for a seven-hour day.
Subcontracted garment workers, however,
worked nine hour days and received just 264 baht
(US $9).
• In Lahore, home-based garment workers had an average
monthly turnover of 10,525 rupees (about US$110) if they
worked in the peripheral areas. However, in central parts of
the city where competition is much higher, turnover was
much lower at an average of 3,315 rupees (less than
US$35) per month. The mean daily working hours for the
garment workers were 19 hours/week in the central parts
and 16 hours/week in the peripheral areas.

In addition to low piece rates, homeworkers – who have to

cover many of the costs of production, including workplace,
equipment, and utilities – often are not paid on time, and
sometimes must wait months.
• In many developing countries, women may be
less mobile than men and unable to move to
other industries where general working
conditions and salaries are better and may thus
experience greater downward pressures on
general working conditions and salaries. A 2012
World Bank study on women’s salaries in the
clothing industry in Cambodia and Sri Lanka
found their wages dropped immediately
following the MFA phase-out.
• Although wages improved later, they never
regained their pre-MFA phase-out levels. In
Cambodia, women earned 26.6 per cent less
than men in 1996, 13.3 per cent less in 2004–
08, and 11.5 per cent less in 2009. In Sri
Lanka, women earned 40 per cent less than
men in 2002, 55 per cent less than men in
2006, and 44 per cent less than men in 2008.
Done by Aman Roy
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