The PSEI project is supporting in the development of textile sector
The International Labour Organization (ILO) champions the concept of ‘decent work’ as a fundamental right for all workers, reflecting the aspirations for productive employment that provides fair income, workplace security, social protection, and opportunities for personal development. Central to the ILO's mission since its founding in 1919, the Decent Work Agenda focuses on four key pillars: employment creation, social protection, rights at work, and social dialogue, with gender equality integrated throughout. The ILO’s commitment to decent work is also crucial to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Goal 8, which seeks to promote sustainable economic growth and decent employment for all. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, Sudipta Bhadra, Chief Technical Advisor (Promoting Sustainable Enterprises in India), ILO Decent Work Team for South Asia and Country Office for India, discusses challenges and initiatives related to employment, labour standards, and sustainable practices in India’s textile and apparel industry.
What are the key employment challenges faced by textile and apparel enterprises in India today?
A few of the key employment challenges faced by textile and apparel enterprises are availability of workers in the geographical clusters dominant in the sector, skill level of workers and supervisors, retention of employees, poor working conditions and compromises by employers to compete. A safe and inclusive workplace is paramount for productivity and employee satisfaction. As these sectors are dominated by women and migrants, safe transport and dormitory amongst others equally holds importance. The KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) funded ‘Promoting Sustainable Enterprises in India or PSEI’ is specifically focusing on creation of more and better-quality jobs in this sector.
How does the informal nature of employment in many garment manufacturing units impact workers’ rights and access to benefits?
Informal nature of employment also called non-standard forms of employment is widely practised in the sector by engaging workers at piece-rate, part-time or contract. Lack of written employment contracts amplifies the vulnerability of these workers who often compromise on their health and safety to maximise earnings by working for long hours or without break. Many are deprived of access to social security, paid leave, over-time pay, and usually have to face deduction or withholding of payments and discrimination at workplace. They have limited scope to organise and representation and therefore are unable to protect their rights as enshrined in the fundamental principles and rights at work (FPRW) or 10 core labour standards. Among the workers, women are disproportionately affected as they dually face sexual harassment, gender pay gaps, discrimination in job roles and career opportunities and on grounds of pregnancy or marital status, limited or no access to maternity benefits and leaves, pre-natal care facilities, alongside other care burden. Alongside informal employment in formal enterprises, incidence of informality is highly prevalent in the lower tiers of supply chain which has informal and home-based enterprises operating. They are majorly invisible despite their role. The employers and employees of these enterprises are not covered by labour legislation and suffer from low productivity and poor working conditions. Further, they are not often organised and are poorly represented in various policy forums.
How does the ILO’s Decent Work initiative support the promotion of fair labour practices within India’s textile and apparel sector?
The 5-year programme framework of the ILO, Decent Work Country Programme (2023-27) has three strategic priorities. These are, ILS and Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work promoted, social dialogue strengthened, and constituents supported for effective policy responses; Full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including through formalisation and a just transition; Promote and strengthen institutions to enable all workers, especially the marginalised and vulnerable, to improve their employment outcomes and progressively achieve universal social protection. Various interventions under each of these pillars support the promotion of decent work across sectors with the engagement of our constituents in India, that is, the government, employers, and workers organisations. Specifically, within the textile and apparel sector, the ILO through standard setting, knowledge building on global best practises, training and capacity building, evidence-based policy advice and advocacy, and development of knowledge products supports in the promotion of fair labour practices.
How is the ILO working with the Indian government and industry stakeholders to ensure compliance with international labour standards in the textile and apparel sector?
In addition to what I have already mentioned, ILO has provided inputs on the labour codes to align it to international labour standards. It also works towards building capacity of the labour administration including training of labour inspectors. In partnership with its constituents, awareness building programmes on international labour standards are organised. The ILO also works closely with brands to influence their policies and practises and conducts trainings of their suppliers.
What strategies has the ILO implemented to enhance employment quality and security in Indian textile and apparel enterprises?
ILO adopts a wide range of strategies informed by research and consultations with its tripartite constituents. In India, our focus has been on safe and informed migration including recruitment, promotion of fundamental principles and rights at work in cotton supply chain, decent work in the lower tier of supply chain, in particular, home-based and informal workers and enterprises, productivity and working conditions, entrepreneurship, and just transition to environmental sustainability. The PSEI project in collaboration with Korea is supporting in the development of the sector through a series of knowledge building and networking activities, trainings, study tour and exchanges with Korean experts, association, institutions and companies. It has designed a self-paced module on recycling of technical textile waste in partnership with Korea Textile Development Institute for capacity building activities carried by Confederation of Indian Textile Industries, NITRA and TSSC.
How are issues such as child labour, forced labour, and poor working conditions being addressed in the Indian textile and apparel sector?
The ILO has provided technical support to government, employers organisation, and trade unions in evolving evidence-based tripartite strategies to address the issues in the sector. Awareness campaigns and capacity building of labour administrations have been one of the focus areas. In parallel, capacity building of trade unions in educating workers on their rights, organising them for collective bargaining and representation are being carried. Similarly, sectoral associations have been capacitated to promote awareness among their members and offer training services with ILO’s technical support to member enterprises on addressing these issues. The ILO also engages with brands and lead buyers to generate awareness and build capacity of suppliers alongside advising them on due diligence. Promotion of responsible business conduct among SMEs in this industry has been one of the objectives of the KOICA funded PSEI initiative of the ILO.
What initiatives are being taken to address gender equality and promote women’s employment within the textile and apparel industry in India?
Being a tripartite body, the ILO works closely with its constituents, the workers’ and employers’ organisations, and the government to promote gender equality and women’s employment in the sector. It has been providing evidence-based inputs into national and state-level textile policies, labour legislations, skills development including apprenticeship. In partnership with sectoral associations and lead buyers, the ILO has been promoting women entrepreneurship development and gender equality in workplace. In parallel, it is supporting workers organisations to organise women workers for representation of their voice in various fora, collective bargaining, collectivisation of home-based and informal enterprise workers, safe and informed migration, access to social protection measures, and awareness building on ILO Convention 190 on violence and sexual harassment at work. At the enterprise level, through SCORE trainings, ILO is providing on-site coaching on adoption of gender-sensitive management practises. This includes fair recruitment and reducing gender stereotyping of job roles, equal pay for equal value of work or gender pay parity, equal opportunity for career progression including trainings and leadership skill development, maternity benefits, sexual harassment and grievance redressal committees, working hours and wage payment mechanisms. Separate toilets and changing rooms, alongside women guards for security check, and safe transport are other measures being promoted. An important focus during SCORE training is participation and representation of women in the workers-managers committee established in the enterprise to drive productivity improvement.
What role do small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the textile and apparel industry play in job creation, and how can they be supported in promoting sustainable employment?
After agriculture, the textile and apparel sector is the second largest employer in India, the majority share of which is the SMEs. However, SMEs in India also suffer from low productivity and to survive in the market they therefore compromise on working conditions such as wages, health and safety, working hours and others. It is important to realise that productivity and working conditions are inter-linked. To ensure that SMEs are productive and continue to provide workers with decent and productive jobs, well-designed and inclusive SME policies and integrated support system are essential. These should focus on enhancing capabilities to innovate and adopt new technologies and to develop new products in order to address social, economic, and environmental goals. Action is needed by the government, in collaboration with employers and workers, to foster an enabling environment for SMEs in the industries, including but not limited to: simplifying often complex regulations for SMEs; improving access to finance through measures such as loan guarantees and start-up grants; clustering, networking, linking into technology platforms, supply chains and local economic development; addressing decent work challenges in the industries; public investment in infrastructure, education, training and technology; and supporting the formalisation of SMEs. The employers’ organisations and sectoral associations can generate awareness among its members on good management practises, in particular, on the inter-link between productivity and working conditions. They also can be equipped to offer in-factory training services to their members. Further, in partnership with brands and lead buyers, initiatives can be designed to help the suppliers to improve productivity and working conditions. The PSEI initiative of the ILO has pilot demonstrated this approach in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Can you highlight any successful case studies or best practices where textile and apparel enterprises in India have improved working conditions while remaining competitive?
Yes, the KOICA funded PSEI initiative has supported eight garment units in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to improve productivity and working conditions using its SCORE training methodology. Previously, the Sustaining and Competitive Responsible Enterprises or SCORE initiative had trained 23 garment and textile units in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that were supplying to brands. SCORE trained enterprises have reported 15 per cent or above improvement in productivity alongside KPIs related to working conditions. SCORE training combined classroom training with on-site coaching and is delivered by ILO trained local industry experts. SCORE Training focuses on developing cooperative working relations resulting in shared benefits for enterprise owners and those who work there. The SCORE Training modules cover Workplace Cooperation, Quality Improvement, Resource Efficiency, Workforce Management, Occupational Safety and Health at Work, Lean Manufacturing, Gender Equality, Responsible Business, and others.
What are the key areas for skill development in the textile and apparel industry, and how can training programmes be made more accessible to workers?
Demographics, climate change and globalisation, alongside due diligence legislations are shaping the future of textiles and clothing. At the same time, a technological and digital revolution is altering the tools used and the skills needed for the industries to succeed and grow. Therefore, a combination of transversal and technical skills is required, alongside need for multi-skilling for agility. The industry is competing with other industries to attract talent, particularly for workers with STEM backgrounds and ICT skills. New skills are and will increasingly be required across the entire supply chain, not only in relation to new production processes, but also in areas such as design, finance, product development, logistics, marketing, sales and customer service. Alongside training new workers, this will increasingly mean re-skilling and up-skilling existing workers through life-long learning. Special attention should be given to those working in the industry today, the young women and migrants that tend to have a low level of education and are locked in low-paid production line work without the opportunity to progress into management or supervisory roles. Sectoral and cluster level associations can be supported to design and offer training programmes to workers. Work-based learning opportunities, primarily by participating and promoting apprenticeship and RPL are useful ways to build skills of workers which are relevant to industry. Participation of industry and workers representatives in policy and programme formulations including in TSSC and AMH is critical to capture the perspectives and constraints for employers and workers in the skilling ecosystem and finding best options for workers to access the programmes. To promote skill development, the PSEI project has developed two self-paced modules in collaboration with Korea Textile Development Institute on recycling of technical textiles waste, and AI use or SMART factory. These modules will be used by NITRA, TSSC, and CITI in their programmes.
What strategies have been most effective in getting businesses to adopt environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, particularly in India’s textile and manufacturing sectors?
There are number of strategies that are currently in practise. The Ministry of Textiles has set-up an ESG taskforce. Further, sectoral NGRBC is under development. Industry associations such as CITI has launched a course on sustainability. There is clearly an intent to promote ESG and prepare the business for future.
