Costliest city's garment workers paid less than those in other cities

A unit setup under the scheme of Integral Textile Park at SIPCOT Irunkattukotai near Sriperumbudur, 40 km away from Chennai on Chennai Bangalore Highway. Photo: K.V.Srinivasan

Bangalore is among the biggest exporters of high quality garments from India. The city, according to a recent analysis of Consumer Price Index (CPI), is also the costliest city to live in. However, ironically, minimum wages fixed for garment workers in Karnataka are far lower than elsewhere.

As it is time for another minimum wage notification — the last one was made in 2009 — garment unions are demanding a “fair deal” taking into account the escalating cost of living in the city.

Highs and lows

A highly skilled tailor in Karnataka is entitled to a minimum wage of Rs. 164.31 in the Zone One in Bangalore, with centres in other zones getting about Rs. 10 less than this. The wage for the same category of worker in the national capital is close to double this, at Rs. 312.

A sampling of minimum wages from elsewhere also shows that it is more than what it is in Karnataka: Maharashtra (Rs. 237.11), Haryana (Rs. 211.42), Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 209.46) and Punjab (Rs. 199.52).

In fact, minimum wages for unskilled in workers in Delhi (Rs.256), Maharashtra (Rs. 229.38), Haryana (186.42) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 165.50) is higher than what a highly skilled worker is entitled to in Karnataka.

Interestingly, wage under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has been now raised to Rs. 150 in Karnataka, while a garment worker's minimum wage in a metropolis like Bangalore is pegged at barely Rs. 14 more than a rural worker.

In a petition made to the Labour Department, the Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU) has said that minimum wages in real terms remains where it was in 1986. “The minimum wages then was Rs. 16. When the price index is taken into account, the wages are the same even now,” GATWU has said in its petition.

The real expenses

The petition also cites a survey by GATWU among workers in 12 garment units in Bangalore, which pegs the total expenses of a household of four at Rs. 9,362.34 on an average.

“Our calculation does not take into account savings on emergency spending. This is the minimum living wages required for survival in the city, which works out to Rs. 300 per day,” said K.R. Jayaram of GATWU.

GATWU is planning to write to heads of all major garment units in Bangalore and exporters abroad drawing attention to the need for garment workers to be paid “real wages”.

It will demand payment of statutory Dearness Allowance as per law, which the union alleges is denied in many instances.