In the apparel value chain ‘home workers’ have long been accepted as skilled workers; mostly women who do handwork from their homes and some doing it from remote villages for exporters who are supplying to international markets. While social compliances, code of conducts and the growing demand for better working conditions have had a major impact on workers in factory environment, home workers have remained largely untouched by labour reforms. Now with global retailers looking deeper into the supply chain, beyond the factories, the focus of attention has expanded to include sub-contractors and home workers.
Most of the home workers are operating through contractors who negotiate with the factories and then hand out the work either on piece rate or on working hour basis. It is estimated that more than 3,000 exporters in India are dependent on more than 30 million home workers for the value addition they offer to the international buyer. The skill level of these workers have helped them to retain their position in the value chain despite new technologies and shrinking margins. Yet, the concern of the various stakeholders is the lack of control on how work is taken from these home workers and whether they are being paid their due.
Associated since the last 12 years with NGOs working in this sector, Next is one brand that is very seriously looking at how to proactively support change at both the sub contracting and home worker level. “It is not an easy job but collaborative efforts of each stakeholder will definitely change the situation. We have identified 23 factories with their 73 sub contractor and 2700 home workers working in the chain. At factory level, we have created a tool which is a comprehensive document, mandatory for all factories to follow with each and every minute detail of their terms and condition, on how to execute work with sub contractors including code of conducts in case of rejections, alterations, etc. At home worker level we have a passbook system in which all records, order wise, colour and style wise is mentioned so that at the end of the work, the worker or sub contractor should not have any dispute. We want to bring more and more transparency in the system, so that there is no scope for exploitation,” says Vikram Pandita, Regional Manager – South Asia, Next Code of Practice.
[bleft]The AEPC through its DISHA project is sensitizing exporters on their role to safeguard the interest of home workers. They are working with other stakeholders including NGO’s like ETI to address the concerns of international buyers with regard to home workers.[/bleft]
All stakeholders believe that mapping of sub contractor who regulate the home workers is the biggest and the toughest task as they keep changing their place, ownership and even workers. Keeping this in mind, Next is working on a community approach wherein the home workers will work together at a common place and there will be an atmosphere for their overall growth, a doctor will be there for their health, and the place will have a crèche also for their kids so that the women can focus on their work. The brand believes that this will enhance their productivity and reduce the alterations, which is ultimately a win-win situation for all in the supply chain. “We have selected this area after much research and since 80 per cent of the home workers are women, such initiatives are the need of the hour,” says Vikram.
Next in association with Ethical Trade Initiatives (ETI), an International NGO, is working actively in this segment and willing to involve more local NGOs which is close to the home workers as the NGO have major role in enhancing the welfare of the workers. ETI’s Rana Alok Singh, Project Manager, India agrees that there is still a lot to do. “In Bareilly I have seen that home workers were not even keeping record of their work and we made them aware of the importance of maintaining records.” ETI has designed training programs to create awareness on home worker issues. “The interactive workshop builds awareness of the opportunities, risks and realities of supply chains that include five key audiences: brands & retailers; suppliers; contractors; sub-contractors; and home workers – all supported by a ‘train the trainers’ programmes,” informs Julia Kilborne, Apparel & Textile category leader, ETI.
[bleft]Many worker organizations and brands are coming together to support communities and ensure that the benefits of change in worker wage rates, health, security and other such issues are extended to the home worker. [/bleft]
In another initiative, Monsoon Accessorize has partnered with local NGOs to uplift the socio-economic conditions of home workers engaged in weaving in the Barabanki area of Uttar Pradesh. While there is much debate on using home workers in the garment supply chain, home workers represent a uniquely vulnerable stakeholder group within the global supply chain. Weavers are particularly vulnerable given their lack of alternative livelihoods. They are generally not organized and have limited or no bargaining power. Conventional approaches for ensuring ethical standards, such as audits, are not workable in this context. Therefore, a more innovative and bottom-up approach is being used.
In the meanwhile, the AEPC through its DISHA project is sensitizing exporters on their role. “It is the need of the time to educate and train factory workers with the risks associated in sub contracting and issues resulting thereof. We are doing it through DISHA and various other ways but we have to look at the other sides also, like various buyers are paying different amounts for similar kind of work. We can’t explain to the sub contractors or the home workers that why we were giving more or giving less for the same job,” reasons HKL Magu, MD, Jyoti Apparels, Delhi and Senior Vice Chairman, AEPC. Even the laws are also responsible to some extent for the current situation. “Indian exporters are paying overtime at the rate of 200 per cent while most of the other countries have the rate of 125 per cent so if an exporter has extra work he would prefer to pass it on to the contractors using home workers instead of getting it done in-house on overtime. We also need flexibility in contract laws to allow us greater transparency,” concludes Ashok Logani, MD, Instyle Exports, Gurgaon pitching for the export community.
No doubt while exporters and buyers have commercial limitations, it is ultimately the NGOs who have to come forward and be a part of the effort for long-term implementation and impact, ensuring that the home workers are getting what they deserve. Even to utilize Government social scheme for this segment, only NGOs can help.
