Indian Garment Workers Protest ‘Prolonged Delay’ in New Minimum Wage
Garment workers are protesting the minimum wage again—this time in India.
Members of the Garment and Fashion Workers’ Union (GAFWU) rallied outside the labor commissioner’s office in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, on Monday to express their anger against what they say is a “prolonged delay” in the announcement of a new floor wage.
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“Workers at the bottom end of the pyramid are being pushed to the wall while employers walk away with profits and governments just look the other way,” said Gautam Mody, convener of Unions United, the industrial federation that counts GAFWU as a member, as well as a member of IndustriALL Global Union’s executive committee. “We need stronger and more robust mechanisms to deliver a just minimum wage to stop wage arbitrage in the global supply chain.”
According to the Minimum Wages Act, governments in India are required to increase the minimum wage every five years. The last time Tamil Nadu did this, however, was in 2014. For the past decade, the monthly pay for garment workers has stalled between 9,875 Indian rupees ($119) and 10,514 rupees ($127), in part due to several Supreme Court lawsuits by hundreds of manufacturers who claimed that they were unable to fulfill the new wages.
The legislative back and forth continued through November, when the Supreme Court directed the state to take immediate corrective measures and revise the minimum salaries. In February, the GAFWU returned the matter to the bench through a special application. Union members said that the judge was “appalled” to see that Tamil Nadu had yet to issue a revised wage notification.
“The Indian government must force the new minimum wage on the industry. It is appalling that industry can get away with this obstruction for so many years,” said Atle Høie, general secretary at IndustriALL Global Union. “IndustriALL calls for immediate action to ensure disbursement of rightful wages of workers which has been denied to them.”
In 2021, a dozen U.S. trade groups, brands and retailers, including the American Apparel & Footwear Association, the Fair Labor Association, The Children’s Place, Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Calvin Klein parent PVH Corp. and The North Face owner VF Corp. wrote to Tamil Nadu authorities welcoming the establishment of a minimum wages committee for the textile industry and urging a floor pay that “meets international standards and guidance established by the ILO on wage setting.” This, they said, would “help to position Tamil Nadu as a responsible sourcing destination.”
Neighboring Bangladesh experienced mass-scale demonstrations over the minimum wage at the close of 2023, the fallout of which is still being felt today. Four garment workers died during the melee, including standoffs between protestors and security forces. Whether dissent in Tamil Nadu will escalate to the same degree could hinge on what the labor commissioner does before the next Supreme Court hearing.
“Minimum wages in India are low and poorly implemented, which has a negative influence on workers and their ability to lead a decent life,” said V.R Jaganathan, general secretary of the Indian National Textile Workers Federation. “We must prioritize living wages and ensure their effective implementation in all states.”
