Figure 6.5: Trend in monthly wages by gender, 2020

2. Pre-Existing Inequalities As A Fertile Ground For Covid-19 Wage Theft

Wages and working conditions are shaped by pre-existing inequalities in the labour market in the form of age, caste, gender and contractual status. During the prepandemic period, brands took advantage of these disparities to systematically underpay vulnerable segments of the workforce and to flexibilise employment relations.

Gender Pay Gap

Although wages of both men and women fell during the Covid-19 lockdown period, the monthly gender pay gap reversed when compared to the pre-pandemic period, with women earning more than men between March and May 2020 (Figure 6.5). This is because, during these months, more women workers were engaged in the production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Men were mainly laid off or in places like Ahmedabad and Gurgaon, where suppliers employ a large number of single male migrants, many had returned to their villages during the migrant-exodus in March 2020, forcing suppliers to employ more women in PPE production. Most women engaged in PPE production stated that they were forced to work extremely long hours at very low wages during this period.

However, once garment production resumed from June, with migrant men also slowly returning back to work, the monthly gender wage gap started going back to prepandemic levels with men earning more than women workers.

200 Female Male

D ges in US l Wa hy Mont

150

100

50

0

January-February March-May November-DecemberJune-October

Source : Primary data, n = 433

“After the lockdown, the factory stated the creche facility will not be reopening due to health and safety concerns. With a two-year-old child, how could I return to work without a creche in the factory? We had no savings and were in massive debt after the lockdown, so for a few days, I left my child at a neighbour’s house and returned to work. But it could not be sustained, and the manager said its better I resign, as they were anyway trying to cut down their workforce. So, I resigned and started selling vegetables at the market, where I could at least take my baby to work. I hardly earn 5000 INR (69 USD) a month now. I wish I could return to the factory so I could earn more and give my baby more nutritious food.”

- Saritha, 25-year-old garment worker at PVH supplier factory in Bengaluru

As seen in the case of Saritha, many young women workers in Karnataka were forced to resign in 2020 after garment factories refused to reopen creches after the Covid-19 lockdown. Under the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, factories with more than 30 women employees have to provide a creche for children under six. However, garment factories refused to reopen these creches after the Covid-19 lockdown citing health and safety concerns. This is despite labour department officials stating that the government had not given any permission to close creches after the Covid-19 lockdown.8 Given these circumstances, trade unions strongly believe that creches were not reopened throughout 2020 as a means to force young working women like Saritha to voluntarily resign. With young mothers being discouraged from labour market participation due to loss of access to childcare, the health and wellbeing of their children have been seriously compromised.

The Plight Of Pregnant Women During Covid-19

In the pre-pandemic period itself, pregnant garment workers faced multiple types of discriminatory treatment and behaviour, ranging from increased verbal abuse or reduced pay to terminations and forced resignations. This situation exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite Indian labour laws providing various maternity benefits, including 26 weeks of paid leave for pregnant women.

Reports collected during our surveys indicate:

• Some garment factories stating health and safety concerns, forced pregnant women to resign after the Covid-19 lockdown. Most of these workers received • In some factories, there was forced termination of all pregnant women immediately after the Covid-19 lockdown, with a particular factory even forcing all women workers to undergo ultrasound scans violating workers’ bodily rights and privacy and using the results to terminate pregnant women workers. None of these workers received full severance benefits.

• In some cases, as below, pregnant women were forced to go on paid leave in the early months of their pregnancy itself, while they wished to use their maternity leave only in the later months of their pregnancy. This forced many pregnant women workers to resign immediately after the birth of their child as they had exhausted their maternity leave and with creches closed, had no affordable child care options.

“I was one month pregnant when my factory closed during the lockdown in March, 2020. My husband, lost his job during the lockdown and was unable to find himself another job till July, 2020. Despite having worked as a tailor in the garment industry for 10 years I had only 3000 INR (40 USD) as savings to meet the needs of a family of four for two months.

I received wages (8500 INR/116USD) for March only by mid-April. I did not receive wages for April and May as I could not report back to work on time, due to lack of transport facilities because of travel restrictions by the government. When I returned to the factory by the end of May, I was forced to take maternity leave from June, despite being only three months pregnant. In normal circumstances, I would have taken maternity leave only in the last month of my pregnancy, so that I could spend a few months with my child while getting paid and returned to work soon after the 6-month paid leave was over.

My family survived the lockdown period, only due to the kindness of neighbours and family members. The factory and the brand did nothing for us – they left us to starve, despite having worked for years for them. After my husband lost his job, we ran out of money by the third week of April. Our neighbours knew how poor we were, so even if they had little, they gave us some food they cooked or passed 100-200 INR (1-3 USD) to me every week. The tension and stress of managing our family’s financial needs, the domestic work and the Covid-19 situation put me in grave mental agony. I did not know how we would survive. In the first week of May, I fainted from high blood pressure and had to be admitted in the hospital. The doctor said I needed to relax more, but how can you relax, when you don’t know where your next meal will come from?”

- Usha, a 31-year-old garment worker working at a H&M supplier factory in Bengaluru

Usha had her baby in November, 2020 but since she had exhausted her paid leave by then, she availed unpaid leave till January, 2021. Realising that a return to the factory will not be possible with the Covid-19 pandemic spreading and with the creche closed in the factory, she resigned from her job in February 2021 and has not returned to the workforce since. She is considering selling vegetables in a cart, so that she does not have to ask her husband for money.

The Exploitation Of Dalit Labour

Caste-based discrimination, which includes discrimination based on caste, work and descent, and similar forms of inherited status is a common form of discrimination in Indian garment factories, especially in Tamil Nadu.9 Dalits or Scheduled Castes (SCs) are the most affected by caste-based discrimination, as they are often considered “untouchable,” with the vast majority of workers from this community being subjected to forced labour in South Asia.