News - #SolidarityWorks! © SAVE 04 August 2020 Sad record – India ranks 3rd in the number of global coronavirus cases According to Johns Hopkins University, India now ranks third worldwide after the United States and Brazil. Job in the corona cases and deaths.Always many seamstresses are particularly affected due to the corona crisis. Existential threats, child labour and sexual exploitation are on the rise. Our local partners support workers in paying their bills and provide them with basic food. With the Corona Emergency Aid Fund, we are making an important contribution to this. India recorded 28,794 deaths and over 1.19 million people infected with the virus by 21 July 2020. The impact on the textile industry is serious, thousands of seamstresses have not been hired again. Migrant workers in particular are hit hard by wage losses. They remain without work even after returning to their home provinces. Child labour and sexual exploitation are on the rise. At the same time, 13 Indian states are planning changes to their labor laws. For example, the payment of minimum wages should no longer be mandatory, the working time should be increased from 8 to 12 hours and the freedom of trade unions can be restricted. These decisions, if approved by the central government, constitute a massive violation of workers' rights and freedoms. Violations of International Labour Organization (ILO) labour law conventionsIt was also signed by India. On May 22, there was a nationwide strike and the massive protests against the labour law changes continue to this day. The ILO also took the floor, as did an alliance of multistakeholder initiatives (FLA, Amfori, Fair Wear, etc.). The initiative appealed to Indian President Modi on June 9, asking him not to implement the labor law changes in the states. 49 companies have also signed an almost identical letter to Modi, including 14 members of the Textile Alliance, which was sent out at the end of July. How our local partners work for those affected: Tamil Nadu: Our partner SAVE has above all Supporting migrant workersbefore they returned to their home provinces. They had no wages and no right to food, as they came from another state. 80% of migrant workers have now returned to their home province, where job opportunities are lacking. At the same time, around 75% of the spinning mills have resumed their work, with around half of the workforce due to a lack of migrant workers. There is, in fact, a shortage of labour. That's why our partner SAVE calls on the government of Tamil Nadu to create a kind of electronic job board so that workers in the remote states can also be placed in spinning mills or factories. Employment contracts could be concluded directly between employer and migrant worker, the dependence on agents who exploited job seekers would be stopped. Karnataka of bangalore: Bangalore is a Corona hotspot. All shops and factories were temporarily closed. Less than half of all factories work. However, companies are immediately closed again as soon as a coronavirus case occurs with the staff. Often, employees are denounced as carriers of the coronavirus and asked to move away because neighbors are afraid to become infected. Cividep estimates that more than half of all seamstresses are still without work. The need is great. Our partner Cividep has in particular Single seamstresses assisted in the payment of their rents, mobile phone credits and basic foodstuffs. The conclusion of Cividep: Poverty and homelessness are rising sharply among thousands of textile workers due to job losses and associated income deficits. There is a risk of increasing child labour. Parents can no longer send their children to school, where they were given a meal for free. The risks of sexual exploitation are increasing. As Cividep reports, it is now particularly important that the government assumes responsibility for the care of employees at both the federal and state level. This must also be demanded by the employees themselves. Where funds are available, community kitchens, as well as open schools, daycare centres and health centres should be created at community level.
