Tex Talk

Employing women in night shifts

P S Sundar

A major happening of direct significance to the textile industry last fortnight, that caught even the global attention, was the announcement of the Centre to amend the Factories Act 1948, to allow women to work in late night shifts. Globally, this makes all the difference since the concept of ‘equal wages for equal work’ does not gain credit if there is no equal opportunity to employ men and women in the mills. Recently, Ms Else Kodde, a Dutch business executive confronted this columnist during his lecture in Amsterdam on ‘Equal wages and opportunities in Indian industries.’ She said: “In your country, even the law discriminates women choosing to work late night shifts. Your country feels that industries are unsafe for working women at nights.” That’s where the amendment proposed to the Factories Act sends a right signal to the global business community.

Given the reality that the textile industry in the country is labour intensive, the industrialists had always believed that archaic labour laws are a big hindrance to progressive business decisions and actions. Many labour laws applicable to the textile industry had been promulgated several decades ago — some in the pre-Independent era. So, two changes are required — attitudinal change for the workforce and the union leaders; and the government’s approach to labour issues. Massive redrafting of the labour laws becomes necessary because even the courts cannot help the industry to survive global competition boggled down with archaic labour laws. The Courts can only interpret the law and enforce its implementation.

It is against this backdrop that the first visible and tangible step towards making the labour laws contemporary has been taken through the proposed amendment to the Factories Act. This amendment aims at allowing women to work in late night shifts, but does not ignore the country’s commitment to their safety. All it says is that the employers should ensure the safety of the women. Until now, women cannot be employed in the units covered by the Factories Act between 10 pm ad 6 am. Over the years, things have changed a lot and women today are much different both in terms of education and employment. Currently, women work in all shifts in units dealing with information technology, ITeS, BPO, etc. The only difference is that these units are governed by the Shops and Establishment Act. So, it is the law which prohibits women from choosing their shifts. Now that the Factories Act is sought to be amended, this denial of choice would be rectified. Even now, textile mills in Tamil Nadu are employing women in different shifts with the specific permission from the government. Thus, mills make particular request to employ women from 7 pm to 10 pm and from 5 am to 6 am. In 2000, Justice Padmanabhan of the Madras High Court, termed Section 66 of the Factories Act as unconstitutional. The state government has filed an appeal which is yet to be decided. Meanwhile, the textile mills are taking cover under the interim stay against the Section 66 and are employing women during the different shifts. The mills are obtaining specific permissions and are required to provide safety for the women work force, besides the transportation facilities. That way, almost all segments of the textile industry and the garment makers and knitwear manufacturers, in particular, are happy that the Centre has adopted a globalised approach towards employing women in the mills. The Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) and the Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) have welcomed the move. In principle, the textile industry sees this as an opportunity to employ women.