PublisherPartnership for Sustainable Textilesc/o Deutsche Gesellschaft fürInternationale Zusammenarbeit(GIZ) GmbHFriedrich-Ebert-Allee 3653113 Bonn, Germany

www.textilbuendnis.com/en

The Partnership for Sustainable Textiles is a multi-stakeholder initiative that has been initiated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 2014. The initiative aims at pooling the strength and expertise of its members in order to achieve social, environmental and economic improvements alongside the entire textile supply chain.

EditingSecretariat of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles

Contactmail@textilbuendnis.com+49 228 4460 3560

Publication dateMarch 2019

Graphic design DITHO Design, Cologneyellow too, Berlin

Image credits © SAVE

IllustrationsG. Ostrowska-Henschel

Women learning together at an In-Factory Training conducted by SAVE

LOCATION

INVOLVED PARTNERS

DURATION

CONTACT

India, State of Tamil NaduDistricts: Tirupur, Coimbatore, Erode and Dindigul

Key Partners: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), FEMNET, Hugo Boss, KiK, Otto Group, Tchibo

Associated Partners: TransFair e.V., Brands Fashion

Main Implementation Partner: Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Tamil Nadu (MSI-TN) / SAVE (Social Awareness and Voluntary Education)

01.07.2018 – 29.02.2020

Hendrik PleinPartnership Secretariatmail@textilbuendnis.com

Partnership Initiative Tamil Nadu Systemic Improvement of Labour Conditions in the Tamil Nadu Textile and Garment Industry

What is the aim of the Partnership Initiative?

17% of all employees in India work in the textile and gar-ment sector. The centre of yarn production is in Tamil Nadu, where approx. 2,000 spinning mills are located. The Tamil Nadu textile industry is often characterised by violations of the fundamental rights of workers along the supply chain. Especially the lower tiers in the supply chain – such as spinning mills – are often particularly difficult for foreign manufacturers and brands to influence. There is usually little transparency, and there are often major challenges with regard to social standards and working conditions: exploita-tion through lump-sum contracts, wages below the official minimum wage rates, excessive overtime, repression of trade unions, lack of freedom of association and gender-based violence pose a threat to local employees. In most cases, there is no lack of corresponding laws and regulations, but rather of compliance and enforcement of existing ones. Additionally, lack of knowledge of workers regarding their rights and limited awareness of violations on the part of ma-nagement are a problem. According to the Sexual Harass-ment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, for example, all factories with more than 20 employees must have established complaints committees (Internal Complaints Committees) since 2013. Workers can turn to these committees in cases of sexual harassment, abuse or similar offences. Despite legal obligations, these structures are not widespread, and where they do exist, their use and impact often fall short of expectations. The aim of the Partnership Initiative is to systematically improve labour conditions in the textile and clothing industry in Tamil Nadu in southern India. To address the situation of women and girls in spinning mills in particular, the Partnership Initiative supports the work of the Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Tamil Nadu (MSI-TN).

The hot spot of India’s textile industry Tamil Nadu is India’s southernmost state with a population density of 72 million residents. The city Tirupur is India’s textile hot spot. Young women and girls make up 80% of the workforce at spinning mills in Tamil Nadu.

All working women have to be respected, they should feel free to work, feel that they’re in a dignified labour situation.«

Mary Viyakula from the Indian NGO SAVE

How does the Partnership Initiative achieve this aim?

Together with MSI-TN, the partners introduce change at three levels.

Multi-Stakeholder-Initiative Tamil Nadu (MSI-TN) Establishing a fruitful dialogue between business associations, factories, NGOs, trade unions and Government both at district and state level is one of the key objectives of the Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Tamil Nadu (MSI-TN). Initiated in 2015 by a group of NGOs around SAVE, the MSI-TN nowadays counts 24 member organisations from civil society. Since 2015, the MSI-TN organised several round-tables and was able to establish a cooperation and ongoing dialogue with a number of spinning mills as well as with the district collectors, who are responsible for the accomplishment of factory and hostel inspections.

PI Tamil Nadu

Module A

Dialogue Promotion

Module B

In-Factory Trainings

Module C

Inspector Trainings

Establishing a continuous dialogue between the

key stakeholders of the Tamil Nadu textile

and garment industry

Improving the access to grievance and remedy through functioning

GRCs and ICCs in 300 Tamil Nadu spinning mills

Improving the quality of state labour

and hostel inspections

Supporting MSI-TN’s activities

By February 2020, the Partnership Initiative will impart the required know-ledge to workers at the 300 spinning mills in Tamil Nadu so that they can stand up for their rights and campaign for humane treatment. Ideally, the systematic improvements to working conditions should be so far-reaching that multipliers involved in the process can reach a broader audience.

Module A: Dialogue A broad understanding of sustainability among all stakeholders is key to jointly initiate measures for social improvements in the textile sector. To this end, regular exchanges between government, industry (factories and associations), NGOs and trade unions both at the state level and at the level of the four main production districts Coimbatore, Dindigul, Erode and Tirupur will be formalised and continuously expanded. The project will also include two major annual conferences directly bringing together the partners from Germany with the local stakeholders from the private and public sector and civil society to foster commitment and strengthen the cooperation between all different groups of stakeholders. The aim of this module is to raise awareness of workers' rights and build a forum where labour-related issues can be discussed and solved in trustworthy cooperation.

Module B: In-Factory Training In order to ensure compliance with basic labour and human rights standards and in order to reduce effectively women rights violations the management of the respective factory must be sensitised to these standards and the workers must be informed of their rights and have access to complaint mechanisms. For this reason comprehensive training pro- grammes are carried out in 300 factories (mainly spinning mills). Management and workers are informed about com-plaint mechanisms, labour rights and standards. In addition, statutory complaints committees are establis-hed and staffed, as for example the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC). In order to ensure the continuous functionality and effectivity of the newly formed committees, there will be additional capacity building for the members who are elected by secret ballot. The training programmes are carried out by more than 100 trainers from nearly 50 local NGOs who have acquired the necessary qualifications through a Training-of-Trainers at the early stage of the initiative.

Module C: Inspector Trainings In cooperation with the Government of Tamil Nadu, a total of 40 state labour inspectors are also expected to receive trainings to improve the quality of inspections in factories and workers’ accommodation.