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With the commencement of WTO with effect from
1/1/2005 the textile industry of Pakistan will face a multiplicity
of challenges. In the international export market, the textile
products from Pakistan will sell on the basis of quality and
price. In order to prepare themselves for this challenge,
large textile groups and individual companies have embarked
on the implementation of rapid BMR programmes in their respective
units. An investment of approximately USD 4.0 billion has
already been made to-date on the import of modern state-of-the-art
machines. This process continues unabated!
Another serious challenge for the industry in general and
the textile industry in particular is whether the goods meant
for exports are manufactured in textile units which fulfilled
obligations of social compliance as envisaged in the relevant
International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions?
Pakistan is a signatory to these conventions. However, in
contrast to the urgent implementation of the BMR programmes
both the government and most of the textile mills are not
moving fast enough to address the issues related to social
compliance!
In addition to meeting the condition of required quality and
competitive price, full and complete social compliance to
improve the living and working conditions of the workers by
January 2005 is required to ensure unhindered market access
to Pakistan's textile products in the developed countries
of Europe and U.S.A. The most important issues on which action
is urgently required are environment, health and hygiene,
elimination of child labour, remuneration of female workers,
right to form trade unions and collective bargaining and vocational
rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons.
The issues are discussed as follows:
1. Environment, health and hygiene
1.1 Dust and fly
All textile manufacturing processes except garment making
generate environmental pollution. During cotton spinning dust
and fly and during weaving fly is released into the air streams
of the production departments. Most of the textile mills in
Pakistan are equipped with LUWA automatic waste removal, dust
filtration and humidification plants. The dust and fly released
by the machines is sucked away by suction nozzles and ducts.
The dust laden air is filtered, humidified and recirculated.
The number of air changes per hour is optimized in each department
to keep the air streams clean, hygienic to prevent any risk
to the health of the workers. The frequency of recirculation
of air is in general as follows:
However, some of the average run of the textile mills are
equipped with non-automatic locally manufactured dust filtration
and humidification plants. The dust-laden air is discharged
into dust chambers and filter rooms. The dust and fly is not
removed completely from the air which is humidified and re-circulated.
Workers in these mills are exposed to the risk of breathing
air polluted with dust and fly and contracting respiratory
ailments, byssinosis (lung disease) chronic bronchitis etc.
Unfortunately, the management's of these textile mills are
more concerned with the maintenance of the required atmospheric
conditions of temperature and humidity rather than the reduction
of dust and fly in the departmental air and maintenance of
clean and hygienic environments for the workers.
Neither the PEPA nor any other public sector agency has so
far come forward to conduct a survey of the textile mills
and collect data on the concentrations of dust and fly in
the air streams of the production departments. The seriousness
of the risk to which the workers of these mills are exposed
is, therefore, unknown! On the other hand, minimization of
contaminations in the machine extract air is considered equally
important and receives as much attention as the maintenance
of the required levels of temperature and humidity in the
developed countries of Europe and U.S.A. The object of these
endeavors is to keep the environments clean and hygienic and
reduce exposure of workers to health hazards!
In order to minimize risk of industrial diseases such as byssinosis
(lung disease) among the workers, the Occupational Safety
and Health Authority (OSHA) of U.S.A has specified concentration
limits of dust in the air streams of production rooms for
compliance by the concerned industries as follows:
· 0.5 mgms per cubic metre, from blowing to roving
preparation and for manufacture of non-wovens.
· 0.2 mgms per cubic meter, for spinning, twisting,
winding and warping.
· 0.75 mgms per cubic metre, for sizing and weaving.
Compliance with the above listed limits for air cleanliness
brings in economic benefits for the textile mills in the form
of improved worker attendance, product quality, process efficiency,
reduced end-breakage rate in spinning and weaving mills and
improved yield of yarn.
1.2 Noise levels
No survey has so far been undertaken by any public or private
sector agencies to collect data about noise levels in the
production departments of textile mills except the study by
PCSIR, Applied Accounts Group in a Texturizing Plant [1].
The level of noise were found to be as under:
· Filament take-up section = 93.20 dB
· Texturizing section = 94.80 dB
· Compressor house = 99.50
These noise levels are higher than the permissible limit of
90 dB specified in the Federal Standards of U.S.A. for maximum
exposure duration of 8 hours per day [2].
1.2 1 Ring Spinning and O.E. Rotor Spinning:
The ring sheds of the spinning mills are the noisiest departments.
The sound level intensity of a machine is measured by sound
level meter which is unknown in most of the average run of
the spinning mills in Pakistan. However, the data on sound
levels of various models of Ring Spinning Frames reported
by prominent machinery manufacturers shows that the sound
level intensities in ring sheds seldom reach 80 dB.
· The sound level intensities of various models of
individual OE - Rotor Spinning Machines are higher than 80
dB as reported by ELITEX of Czechoslovakia [3].
· Stroji-import BDA-10 and Schubert Salzer Spincomet
= 84 dB
· Toyoda AS and Schlafhorst Autocoro = 85 dB
· Rieter M2/1= 86 dB
The sound level intensities of the above listed
OE - rotor spinning machines are lower than the permissible
limit of 90 dB of the Federal Standards of U.S.A. Nevertheless,
in an OE-rotor spinning shed with 20 machines, i.e. 3840 rotors
in operation, possibility of sound level intensity exceeding
90 dB cannot be ruled out. The workers in these sheds if exposed
to an intensity of 90 dB or higher for more than 8 hours per
day face risk of gradual damage to their hearing capabilities!
1.2 2 Weaving sector
The weaving operation on a shuttle loom consists of shuttle
picking, checking and beating up. Noise emitted during shuttle
picking and checking is of a very high intensity. Break-up
of shuttle looms in the weaving sector of the textile industry
of Pakistan is as under:
It would be seen from the above data that largest concentration
of shuttle looms is in the power loom sector. However, this
sector is divided into small units numbering approximately
20,600. The average number of looms per unit works out at
about 12. The number of looms in weave rooms is small. However,
in the organized mill sector the number of shuttle looms operating
in a weaving shed may be about 100 or higher. No data about
the sound intensities prevailing in these sheds is available.
It is also surprising that standards of safe noise levels
have not been included in the NEQS by the PEPA so far! Nevertheless,
the best practice mills in Pakistan e.g. Crescent Greenwood
have started monitoring the noise levels in their weaving
sheds and providing ear protectors to their workers.
1.3 Gas emissions and water effluents
As reported by Ahmed [4] 16 pollution of gas emissions and
32 characteristics of water effluents affecting NEQS have
been identified. PEPA, established by the government of Pakistan,
has finalized NEQS pertaining to gas emissions, i.e. CO. SO,
NO concentrations and PH value, BOD, COD,TSS, Chromium and
copper content in respect of effluent discharge. Compliance
to these standards by the industries is on self monitoring
basis but regular submission of test reports giving quantitative
estimates of pollutants is mandatory.
Dr. Arshad Vohra [5] on the basis of a survey of 100 mills
reports that in most of the units impact on environments by
process effluents exceeds the limits specified in the relevant
N.E.Q.S. According to him the best approach to tackle the
problem is to cut down the effluent being discharged and thereby
cut down pollution. In case of best practice mills consumption
of water per kgm of finished fabric is only 90 to 110 liters
as compared to about 400 liters in the average run of the
mills. The options for process improvement developed and offered
to the mills are.
· Recycling of water, steam condensate, unused dyes
and chemicals etc.
· Training of the supervisory staff in process optimization
and in conservation of water, steam, chemicals, dyes etc.
Dr. Arshad Vohra predicts that in few years, it will not be
possible to export any textile product for consumers in Europe,
U.S.A. and other developed countries unless it is green labeled
i.e. it is certified to be ecologically safe, free from substances
harmful to human body and fulfills criteria specified by Eco-Tex
Standard 100. Like-wise, the importers in the developed countries
will also ensure that the textile products were manufactured
in textile mills which complied with the clauses of ISO-14000,
i.e. the processes performed on the products were environment
friendly!
2. Elimination of child labour
International labour organisation convention No. 138 specifies
15 years as the minimum age for employment and allows relaxation
to 14, 13 and 12 years for light work in the case of underdeveloped
countries. ILO Convention No. 182 deals with the worst form
of child labour.
Mr. Majyd Aziz [6] reported the results of a child labour
survey conducted by Federal Bureau of statistics and the Ministry
of Labour, Man power and Overseas Pakistani’s in 1996
in collaboration with ILO. Some of the findings of this survey
are:
· There are about 3.3 million children working in different
sectors, out of which 2.4 million (73%) are boys and 0.9 million
(27%) are girls.
· The reason given by 54% of the parent/guardians was
that children worked to assist in household enterprises, while
27% said that children worked to supplement the family income.
Mr. Majyd Aziz also indicates that the number of child labour
has been underestimated in the FBS survey. The actual child
labour in Pakistan could be as high as 4.0 million.
In the textile industry, children are generally employed in
the ring sheds of spinning mills as doffers, in the weaving
sheds as battery filter, and in the machinery maintenance
departments as fitter helpers. A large number of children
are also employed in cottage-based carpet weaving. These children
are generally the relatives of jobbers, shift supervisors,
foremen etc. and work to supplement family income.
ILO has sponsored activities for the elimination of child
labour all over the world under its International Programme
for the elimination child labour (IPEC). In Pakistan it has
sponsored following activities:
· Education and training centres for carpet weaving
children to be implemented by Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers
and Exporters Association (PCMEA).
· Printing of translations on national and international
instruments on child labour and protection of working children
to be implemented by the Employer's Federation of Pakistan
(EFP).
In collaboration with the importers of carpets in U.S.A. and
Europe, PCMEA has introduced RUGMARK label scheme with the
object of elimination of child labour in the carpet industry.
The trademark initiative is available to carpet manufacturers
subject to fulfillment of the following conditions.
· Produce carpets without employing child labour
· Pay minimum wages fixed by the government to their
adult workers.
· Allow access to their looms during surprise inspections.
Under the RUGMARK scheme importers of carpets pay a self imposed
surcharge which is utilized for education and rehabilitation
of former child workers. The importers ensure that the carpets
they are buying were woven without involving child labour.
Similar initiatives are required for the elimination of child
labour from the textile industry of Pakistan, especially the
average run of the spinning mills and the powerloom sector.
In these initiatives All Pakistan Textile Mills Association
(APTMA), Pakistan Power Looms Cloth Manufacturers Association
(PPLCMA) and Society for the Protection of the Rights of the
Child (SPRC) can play a leading role.
3. Remuneration of Female Workers
Female workers are employed in almost all sectors of the textile
chain.
At the growing stage they pick seed cotton from the plants
when it is ripe. In the spinning mills females are usually
employed for sorting and removal of contaminations such as
foreign fibres and particles from cotton bales and in the
reeling section for winding of yarn in hanks for mercerizing.
Female workers are employed at all stages of garment manufacture
especially in cutting, stitching, labeling, final checking,pressing
and packing.
At the growing stage, female cotton pickers receive salaries
which are lower than those of the male workers. These workers
are therefore disgruntled and unmotivated. Saif and Gamal
Eldin[7] report that these workers resort to rough and atrocious
picking removing dried leaf, shales, hulls, burrs, grass,
pieces of plant stalk, bark, straw etc. similarly, female
foreign fibre and particle detectors in the spinning mills
are underpaid and, therefore, feel reluctant to perform their
work efficiently. Consequently foreign fibres such as PP fibres
are not removed, get spun into yarn, woven into cloth and
appear as undyed specks in the dyed and finished fabrics which
are rejected by the customers.
Most of the growers and managements of average run of the
spinning mills bye-pass the relevant clauses of the labour
legislation by showing these workers as contractual workers,
working under a contractor. The responsibility for the payment
of wages is thus shifted to the contractor. Nevertheless for
all intents and purposes these workers are employees of the
respective growers and the spinning mills and receive their
wages along side other regular workers!
The conditions of the female workers employed in the garment
sector are relatively better. In the best practice mills,
remuneration of female and male workers is nearly the same
for the same job. In small size and medium size units payment
is on the basis of piece rate. High quality performance is
generally appreciated by payment of rewards.
By paying equal remuneration to female and male workers for
works of equal value cotton growers and spinning mills can
derive two fold benefits:
· Create motivated work force of female workers and
get higher output of good quality.
· Comply with the clauses of ILO conventions No. 100
and 111 which call for equal remuneration for male and female
workers for works of equal value.
4. Right to form trade unions and collective
bargaining
The textile industry accepts the right of the workers to form
trade unions as well as collective bargaining as envisaged
in ILO conventions No. 87 and 98. Sabihuddin Ghausi [8] reports
that out of 11 recommendations made by the textile industry
only two were included in the final draft of the Industrial
Relations Ordinance 2002 relating to intimation to the employer
of the registration of trade union and compensation to be
paid to the worker in the case of termination of his services.
Inspite of the strong reservations of the textile industry
IRO 2002 allows upto 25% outside office bearers in the trade
unions. The experience of the textile industry with trade
unions with outside office bearers has not been welcomed in
the past. Large number of spinning mills closed down in the
seventies in and around Karachi as a result of agitational
activities of `Gherao' and `Jalao' of the workers, instigated
by trade unions with outside participation. Similarly a very
large composite mill near Multan was brought to a standstill
as a result of sit in by the workers in 1978. The outside
union demanded payment of three months salary as bonus to
the workers. The mill management was willing to pay 2.5 months
salary as bonus on the basis of the financial results. The
outside trade union did not accept the offer of the mill management
for negotiations. The workers were instigated to indulge in
`Gherao' and `Jalao' . The workers also started large scale
pilferage of costly electronic parts of machines. In order
to prevent the situation going out of control the management
sought police help. The agitating workers started rioting
with the police. A number of police constables were injured.
Police was left with no choice but to take action in self
defense and start firing in the air. Unfortunately, a few
casualties occurred in the process! This led to the take over
of the mills by the martial law authorities. With the efforts
of the military personnel, a settlement was finalized between
the mill management and the outside trade union. The mill
started operations again after remaining out of production
for a period of about 20 days. The loss suffered by the management
as a result of the agitation by the outside trade union was
approximately Rs. 25 million! The textile industry is therefore
right in expressing strong reservations against the provision
of IRO 2002 pertaining to 25% outside participation in trade
union. The issue needs to be reconsidered in the interest
of industrial peace.
5. Vocational Rehabilitation and employment
of disabled persons
The management of the textile mills generally realize the
importance of vocational rehabilitation and employment of
the disabled persons in accordance with the clauses of ILO
Convention No. 59. However, it is more important to minimize
risks of accidents by providing covers over driving belts
and chains of machines. Stop motions should be checked frequently
and kept in working condition so that machine is stopped immediately
when an end breaks or a jam develops. Furthermore, it should
not be possible for a worker to open the cover of a machine
while it is in production.
Importance of adequate training of the workers in the performance
of the jobs assigned to them can hardly be over-emphasized.
The author painfully recalls the case of a cotton feeder who
lost his right hand in Bolan Textile Mills, Bulleli, Quetta.
He was instructed to follow the revolving beater of the Automatic
Bale Plucker and remove contaminations from the bales already
plucked. The workers was an illiterate person.
On one unlucky morning he came on duty and inadvertently started
picking contaminations from the bales in front of the revolving
beater. His right hand was caught between the bale and the
beater and completely cut off from the arm. He was rushed
to CMH in Quetta where the surgeons made hectic efforts to
join the hand with the arm but failed! The said worker was
later on employed as a messenger in the office of the General
Manager.
In conclusion it may be pointed out that in June, 1995 WTO
assigned the duty to act to improve the living and working
conditions of the workers throughout the world. The social
compliance issues in the textile industry have hit the headlines
of the media reports in Pakistan subsequent to the social
audit of quite a large number of textile mills in the Punjab
by some buyers of textile products from U.S.A. and E.U. The
concerned sponsors were warned and advised to improve environmental,
health, hygiene and working conditions of the workers upto
the required standard conforming with the relevant ILO conventions
and the labour laws! The warning given by these buyers should
be given serious attention by the textile mill owners!
It is hoped that in the interests of maintaining as well as
improving the value of textile exports which are generally
65% of the total exports from Pakistan, the textile industry
will not lag behind in addressing the issues of social compliance
as envisaged in ILO conventions and the labour laws.
Acknowledgement
Useful technical information received from M/s. Mohammed Saeed,
Syed Saad Ali, Ashar Ahmed Zaidi, Muhammad Mohsin Afridi and
Muhammed Amir Riaz during the preparation of this article
is gratefully acknowledged.
References
1. Mr. G.H. Sheikh, Report published in Dawn, dated 7/04/99.
2. Mr. Jerry D. Wilson, Physics, A Practical and Conceptual
Approach.
3. Elitex - Textile Engineering Concern, "Information
on textile technological research and machine development
of OE rotor spinning machines in Czechoslovakia - 1985.
4. Munir Ahmed, "Environmental standards - a challenge
for the textile industry", lecture delivered at the Seminar,
Avari Hotel 1998.
5. Dr. Arshad Vohra, "Environmental issues related to
the textile industry", Pakistan Textile Journal, June
2002.
6. Mr. Majyd Aziz,. "The magnitude and multitude of child
labour in Pakistan", Pakistan Textile Journal, January
1999.
7. Saif El. Islam N.A. and Gamal Eldin, "Improvement
of Pakistan's Raw Cotton and upgrading of ginning facilities",
Pakistan Textile Journal, November 1990.
8. Sabihuddin Ghausi, " Social Compliance - pressure
mounts on the Govt. and industry", Dawn, Business, August
3, 2003.
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