Fashion brands are paying millions of home-based Indian garment workers US$0.13 per hour: report
- The Indian garment sector employs more than 12 million people in factories but according to a study by the University of California, millions more work from home for a pittance
- The “robust profits” global retailers enjoy and the inexpensive clothing that consumers then wear, is partly due to the “penny wage” and exploitation endured by these “invisible” workers in India, the report said
Each night after her children finally fall asleep, Mehala Sekar spends hours at her home in south India, sewing, cutting and checking clothing given to her by a garment factory contractor.
“If I went to a factory, I would earn more and get overtime money, a bonus and other benefits,” Sekar said in a phone interview from Tirupur, one of the biggest garment manufacturing hubs in southern India. “But I have three children to take care of and cannot join a factory. The price I pay for that is very low wages.”
The Indian garment sector employs more than 12 million people in factories but according to the study by the University of California, millions more work from home.
These workers are involved in the many stages of garment production – from cutting sleeves to stitching buttons, embroidery, bead work and giving other “finishing touches” to items of clothing.