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Factsheet: Tunisia's garment industry

Tunisia's textile sector suffers from international competition, especially with low-wage countries in Asia. In the last 15 years many factories have been closed and workers have been made redundant. Nevertheless, the textile industry is still one of the key sectors of the Tunisian economy, employing about one third of all industrial workers, 86% of the 150,000 workers being women.

Background: The Tunisian garment industry

Tunisia has a long tradition of textile production and is still one of the most important production countries for the European market. Tunisia exports fashion items such as jeans and T-shirts, but also work and protective clothing.[i] The garment and textile industry are of great importance to the Tunisian economy and are responsible for 18.2% of the gross domestic product in 2019. Across the country, 1595 factories employ over 164,000 people, about one third of all industrial workers.[ii] Most of them work in small or medium-sized factories with an average of less than 100 employees, while one in three is employed in one of the few large factories with more than 300 employees.[iii]

Smaller factories (right, with barred windows) are often located in the middle of residential areas. © FEMNET

Who works in the factories?

According to a study by FTDES, 86% of textile workers are women.[iv] Young women between the ages of 18 and 35 in particular work in the factories, as they are considered to be particularly hard-working and fast and are most likely to be able to cope with the high workload. More than half of them come from the poorer regions in the interior of the country and have migrated to the textile regions along the coast in search of work. Despite the low wages in the factories, many of them regularly send money to their families. 20% of the women workers live in extreme poverty themselves. Most of them have a low level of education and 7% are illiterate.[v] This puts them in a weak position and makes them vulnerable for rights violations.

Most seamstresses are between 18 and 35 years old. © FEMNET

Poor working conditions and inadequate wages

Almost all workers have fixed-term contracts. Factory owners refuse permanent employment, although Tunisian law requires them to do so after four years. This puts the workers in a precarious situation and gives them few opportunities to defend themselves against bad working conditions. In many factories there are insufficient protective measures and the workers are exposed to extreme performance demands. They suffer from stress and the physical burden of hours of monotonous movements and sitting on uncomfortable chairs in the factory. For women it is especially exhausting, because they have to take care of household and children after the long day in the factory[vi]. After a few years of factory work, most of them suffer from occupational diseases such as joint pain and eye problems.[vii]

Those who make mistakes are observed closely. © FEMNET

Another problem is insufficient payment. In Tunisia, collective agreements for the textile sector are negotiated between the UGTT trade union confederation, the employers' association UTICA and the government. Currently (Oct. 2019) the wage of a seamstress is about 560 Dinar/month (175 € / month)[viii] for a 48-hour week. This is far below the living wage of 850 dinars calculated by FTDES in 2016 to meet the basic needs of a family. Due to the drastic increase in the cost of living in recent years, the value is much higher today. In addition, short-time working has led to loss of wages.[ix]

Former seamstress shows health problems. She was dismissed and slipped into poverty. © FEMNET

Only around 18% of textile workers are members of UGTT.[x] It is particularly difficult for women to organise themselves in a union, as the union is traditionally dominated by men. Also women have less time to get engaged and defend their rights because of the unequal double burden of household and factory work.[xi]

Dependence on the European market

View into a factory building in Tunisia. © Lea Kress

The textile industry is a key sector for the Tunisian economy. Textile factories produce mainly for export and many of them are owned by foreign investors - according to FTDES 82% of the factories produce exclusively for export and 40% of the factories are wholly or partly owned by foreign investors.[xii] There is a strong dependence on the European market, as 95% of textile exports go to the EU - especially to France (34 %), Italy (28 %) and Germany (10 %).[xiii] As a result, European companies are in a powerful negotiating position in which they determine production conditions such as quality, prices and delivery times.

Tunisia is also suffering from the liberalisation of global textile trade that has taken place since the end of the World Textile Agreement in 2005. Since then, the Tunisian textile industry has been competing internationally with products from low-wage countries in Asia and other producing countries in the region, such as Morocco.[xiv] This has increased the pressure on prices in the Tunisian textile industry.

Factory closures and arbitrary dismissals

Textil workes on strike in Feb 2017 in El Kef © FTDES

Textile factories in Tunisia often exist only for a short time. According to FTDES, their average age is less than ten years.[xv] This often results in unannounced factory closures, which are accompanied by arbitrary dismissals. There have been over 900 factory closures since 2005-[xvi] According to the FTDES, factories are often re-established under a different name. This is encouraged by Tunisia's investment law, as newly founded companies benefit from, among other things, tariff concessions during the first few years. In addition, factory closures take place to get rid of obligations to workers - for example, legally binding permanent positions - and to get rid of older workers. Apart from the prevention of permanent employment, there are further law violations when factories have to close: often wages are not or only partially paid before the closure and workers suddenly find themselves without social security because the factory owners have not paid the legally obligatory social security contributions properly. Affected workers defend themselves, for example through protest actions or legal actions. Due to investor protection laws, however, it has not yet been possible to obtain compensation payments.[xvii]

 

Source:

[i] FWF (2015) Tunisia Country Study (page 4).
[ii] FTDES (2019) Presentation Speakers Tour (slide 5).
[iii] Based on figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (2018): Industries textiles et habillement: http://www.tunisieindustrie.nat.tn/fr/zoom.asp?action=listdsect=02
[iv] FTDES (2013) Violations of the economic and social rights of women workers in the textile sector (page 20).
[v] FTDES (2019) Presentation Speakers Tours (slide 19).
[vi] Kress (2019) Made by Jeaniuses? The case of a Tunisian jeans factory and the empowerment of female workers (page 70).
[vii] FTDES (2013) Violations of the economic and social rights of women workers in the textile sector (page  29).
[viii] Status October 2019.
[ix] Kress (2019) Made by Jeaniuses? The case of a Tunisian jeans factory and the empowerment of female workers (page 57).
[x] FWF (2015) Tunisia Country Study (page 9).
[xi] Kress (2019) Made by Jeaniuses? The case of a Tunisian jeans factory and the empowerment of female workers (page 76).
[xii] FTDES (2019) Presentation Speakers Tours (slide 6).
[xiii] FTDES (2019) Presentation Speakers Tours (slide 9). Based on figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (2018): Industries textiles et habillement: http://www.tunisieindustrie.nat.tn/fr/zoom.asp?action=listdsect=02 
[xiv] Stanton (2015) Equality and Justice in Employment: A Case Study from Post-Revolution Tunisia. The Equal Rights Review, 15 (page 119).
[xv] FTDES (2013) Violations of the economic and social rights of women workers in the textile sector (Seite 11).
[xvi] FTDES (2019) Presentation Speakers Tour (slide 18).
[xvii] Stanton (2015) Equality and Justice in Employment: A Case Study from Post-Revolution Tunisia. The Equal Rights Review, 15 (pages 116–119).