Garment exporters to counter West\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s sweatshop allegations
\nEconomic Times, India<\/p>\n
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NEW DELHI: Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), a government-sponsored body, is launching a campaign to counter allegations in the western media of unfair labour practices being followed by Indian apparel makers. Of late, India\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s biggest apparel exporters that supply to major brands have been fending off charges of running sweatshops by European NGOs and media houses. And before the impact of such allegations travel to the order books of exporters, AEPC has embarked upon a counter-strategy.<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cWe will hold roadshows in cities of western Europe where several of our buyers are located. We will try and convince them of the fair practices our apparel makers follow in their factories. We would show European buyers how Indian factories are inspected by the compliance agencies,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 AEPC chairman Vijay Agarwal told ET.<\/p>\n
The roadshows – the first of which is slated to be held in London – would be spread over three months beginning October. AEPC will also invite buyers and compliance agencies to inspect any manufacturing facility as and when they desire. Mr Agarwal, however, said he won\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t invite the publication or the NGO which actually made these allegations. AEPC has also requested the government to write to the Indian embassies in European countries to actively counter allegations.<\/p>\n
Recently, the UK-based daily The Guardian reported that the workers employed with India\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s biggest garment exporters Gokaldas Export and Texport were not being paid enough to meet their basic needs. The paper alleged that the workers \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cwere often made to work extra hours without pay to meet unattainable production targets.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d It also alleged that \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cthe mostly female workforce was harassed and bullied by male production managers and supervisors for not achieving targets and that they were refused time off when ill.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n
The report alleged that the factories didn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t offer minimum international labour standards promised by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), a code of conduct followed by almost all major apparel brands. Mr Agarwal says the ETI states that each worker should get \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cliving wages\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d, but there is no legal or industry-agreed definition of \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153living wage\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 and it varies from country to country and city to city.<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cGarment makers follow the minimum wages set by different state governments.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Garment exporters to counter West\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s sweatshop allegations Economic Times, India NEW DELHI: Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), a government-sponsored body, is launching a campaign to counter allegations in the western media of unfair labour practices being followed by Indian apparel makers. Of late, India\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s biggest apparel exporters that supply to major brands have been fending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n