Slowdown in the Indian textile and apparel sector has kept worker wages flat over the past year with the impact varying across unit sizes.

In garment factories in Tiruppur, workers’ salaries declining by almost one third of last year. Export units in the city have reported 40 per cent job loss in the last six months with export orders declining to 60 per cent, says PR Natarajan, General Secretary, All India Trade Union Congress.

Garment factories in Bengaluru are facing labor shortage with workers’ switching to jobs at either shopping malls or metro rail stations. With 90 per cent of the workers in these factories being women, jobs with better pay and no harassment are being preferred, adds VPRukmini, President, Garment Workers’ Union. 

Having lost their jobs, workers in Karnataka are moving to other states like Gujarat and Telangana, states PradeepNatarajan, Mill Owner, Coimbatore. 

The textile sector in these states currently faces lack of orders, slump in rates for fabric weavers and spinners, and import of value added products. As per a study by the Textile Committee, the sector lost 2.14 lakh jobsfrom 2015-2020as exports declined while imports surged.

The industry also suffers frominsufficient data on the impact of the slowdown in the post COVID year; vast differences in labor profiles and systems between organised and unorganised sectors; migration of workers to better paying jobs and lower labor costs is other textile exporting nations.

R. Karumalaiyan, National Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, avers, the sector suffers from lack of Unionisationand insufficient data for the industrial surveys. It needs to address the needs of both its resident and migrant workers, adds Karumalaiyan.