10,000 garment workers lost jobs during lockdown: Study

More than 10,000 garment workers lost their jobs during the pandemic and many more were forced to resign or laid off without fair resettlement, a study has revealed.

The Garment and Textile Workers' Union and the Alternative Law Forum that conducted the survey also said 85% of those who quit during the period had been forced to resign by the factory management.

The study, 'Forced Resignations, Stealthy Closures - A study of losses faced by garment workers in Bengaluru during the COVID-19 pandemic', stated that factory managements and apparel corporations used the pandemic to renege on their legal, financial and even voluntary commitments made to workers.

Factories used various tactics to avoid fulfilling their obligations on financial compensation, including threats of pay cuts, stopping transport facilities and spreading fear that those who are not resigning would lose their PF and gratuity.

All this happened, the study said, even as the claims by the factories of running losses remained unverified. The factories failed to follow the rules under the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947, which mandates compensation of 15 days’ average pay for every completed year of service and in factories with 100+ workers, three months’ notice in writing or payment in lieu of the notice period.

The study included a two-round survey among garment workers, many of whom said they resigned since they needed to withdraw their PF funds to pay for house rent, child care and debts during the lockdown.

But 35% of the workers who resigned for immediate financial relief said they either fully or partially did not receive their retrenchment or closure compensations during the first phase of the survey.

In addition, 63% of them said they did not receive the central government-mandated pay from factories during the lockdown, the report says.

These unprecedented job losses greatly affected the livelihoods of the garment workers and their families as 96% of respondents confirmed that their household income shrank since the lockdown. About 47% said their income fell by 30%-50%.

The conditions improved by the second round of the survey in January-February 2021, as 84% of them had found employment again. The report concluded that though there are signs of recovery, the losses suffered by the workers cannot be overlooked.

The study recommended suo motu inspections of factories by labour departments to review closure compensation, campaigns to spread awareness on rights, urgent revision of minimum wages, etc.