Figure 6.20: Percentage of workers who received Covid-19 support from various sources

Access To Covid-19 Related Relief Efforts

67% garment workers reported that they were able to access some form of Covid-19 relief in 2020. However, most workers stated that it was too little, too late.

• Around 30-40% of the workers received Covid-19 relief either as in-kind in the form of dry food or through cash transfers from State governments (Figure 6.20). However, the cash support was a meagre one-time amount of 1000-2000 INR (13-26 USD), which could hardly help meet consumption needs for more than a week.

• Around 10% of the workers reported they received monetary support from trade unions/

NGOs while around 30% stated they received dry food packets from unions/NGOs.

• Around 10% of the workers received monetary support from suppliers. However most workers reported that they were forced to compensate for it with unpaid overtime in the post-lockdown period.

• Workers were not able to access any healthcare support through any sources during the

Covid-19 crisis in 2020.

Figure 6.20: Percentage of workers who received Covid-19 support from various sources Figure 6.17 : Percentage of workers who received

Covid-19 support from various sources

50

rk er s wo entage of rc Pe 40

30 36%

20

10

5% 10%

0 1%

Monetary support 44%

27%

1%

2% 0% 1% 0% 0% Food Healthcare

Factory Government NGO/Charity Trade Union

Source: Primary data, n = 290 (workers who received Covid-19 related relief)

The second wave of Covid-19 started in mid-March, 2021 overwhelming the healthcare system, with shortages in oxygen cylinders and critical medicines and adversely affecting all garment producing hubs including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Tirupur. As lockdowns were introduced to curb the second wave in several states in India, many suppliers faced a shortage of raw materials and could not complete existing orders which led to a second round of order cancellations by certain brands.

In Bengaluru, facing pressure from supplier associations the Karnataka government allowed garment factories to operate with 50% of their workforce during the lockdown in May, 2021. However, with limited safety measures, garment factories turned into Covid-19 hotspots, with hundreds of workers being infected with the virus. While this forced the government and suppliers to shut down garment factories, many workers who were infected were already in serious condition and being unable to afford medicines and oxygen cylinders, given their poverty-level wages, were pushed to severe distress. In the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, the government sealed many garment factories after they were found violating Covid-19 protocols which led to Covid-19 hotspots. It is uncertain how many garment workers have died in the second wave of Covid-19 as factories did not want stop operations fearing a second round of order cancellations from brands. However, trade unions feel the numbers could run in hundreds, and for workers who were able to survive the Covid-19 infection, the debt taken to buy basic medicines could take months to repay.

As we write this report, negotiations are going on with regard of payment of wages for garment workers during the Covid-19 2021 lockdowns in different states. While preliminary reports indicate that suppliers in Bengaluru are willing to pay partial wages for the lockdown period, most suppliers in other part of India have refused to pay any wages for the lockdown period. This is likely to push workers into deeper poverty, which could have intergenerational effects in the long run.

1 KPMG. (2020). Mitigation strategy for Indian textile and apparel sector. New Delhi: KPMG. Retrieved from https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/in/pdf/2020/05/covid-19indian-textile-and-apparel-sector.pdf

2 IBEF. (2021). Textile Industry & Market Growth in India. IBEF. Retrieved from https:// www.ibef.org/industry/textiles.aspx

3 Apparel Export Promotion Council. (2020). Impact of COVID19 on Indian Apparel. Mumbai: APEC.retieved from: https://aepcindia.com/system/files/AEPC%20Covid%20 Study%208%20May%202020.pdf

4 Society for Labour and Development. (2020). Garment Workers in India’s Lockdown Semi-starvation and De-humanization Lead to Exodus. New Delhi: SLD. Retrieved from https://media.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/files/documents/GarmentWorkers-in-Indias-Lockdown11.pdf

5 Nagaraj, A. (2020, October 22). Indian garment workers cover bosses’ lockdown losses. Retrieved from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/india-workers/indiangarment-workers-cover-bosses-lockdown-losses-idUKL4N2HB3SD

6 Ministry of Labour and Employment. (2020, March 20). Statement by GoI. Do NoM11011/08/202. New Delhi, India. Retrieved from https://labour.gov.in/sites/default/files/ Central_Government_Update.pdf

7 Asia Floor Wage Alliance. (2021). Garment workers under threat from labour deregulation in Asia A review of recent labour and employment law changes in Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. New Delhi: AFWA. Retrieved from https://asia.floorwage.org/ wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Labor-Deregulation-Asia-March-2021-Final-Draft-24-March. pdf

8 Nagaraj, A. (2020). With creches shut, mothers forced out of garment factory jobs in India. Chennai: Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-healthcoronavirus-india-workers-trfn-idUSKBN2412Z7

9 Ethical Trading Intiative. (2019). Base Code Guidance: Caste in Global Supply Chains. London: ETI. Retrieved from: https://idsn.org/portfolio-items/eti-guidance-caste-in-globalsupply-chains/