Silent service

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Sri Lanka’s apparel industry clothes the world and earns the largest amount of foreign exchange but is struggling to retain its workforce as an estimated 30,000 vacancies remain open in hundreds of factories around the country.

Sri Lanka’s apparel history spans over four decades but it bloomed in the early 1990s and has since grown into the main export of the Indian Ocean island. The industry reached an estimated four billion US dollar earning landmark at the end of last year and remains the country’s top employer.

M. Janaki Rohini (47) works as one of 6000 workers at MAS Bodyline, one of the top apparel companies in Sri Lanka. MAS Holdings is south Asia’s largest producer of intimate garments especially for Victoria’s Secret and has an annual turnover of 700 million US dollars.

The company also designs and manufactures garments for Nike, Speedo, Marks and Spencer, Triumph International and Rohini’s company is currently making kits for the Olympics in London. Her story has many threads in common with the women that form around 90 per cent of the entire one million workforce employed by the industry.

“I joined the industry shortly after completing school as a machine operator and eventually worked by way up to quality controller. I have two children and support my family with this job. Due to the income that I make I have been able to take care of them even after my husband was paralysed and does not work anymore,” she told Daily FT in an interview.

Her life has been hard with a fire destroying her home in 1998, which was restored with help from the company that she works for but though Rohini has high praise for her company she admits that tough work conditions and low pay are two of the main reasons for most people leaving factories.

Apparel workers are mostly women and when the industry started out in the 1990’s there were many social problems with employees having to endure much hardship. Sri Lanka’s traditional society looks down on poor women that leave villages to work in these factories and the image of being downtrodden has survived the years despite it being an industry that gives employment to the poor and lesser educated.  

Many young women seeking employment do so without telling their families, though the subsequent financial benefits gradually win them over. Most women give up working after marriage but many, like Rohini, continue to climb the ladder eventually becoming role models for another generation.

Still others work to send their siblings to school, do external degrees or study for future promotions, run small home businesses on the side and even pursue armature sports careers. These are women that are completely contrary to the hackneyed image in media that portrays factory girls as victims in dramas or popular entertainment, which has also done its share in creating a detrimental image.

However that situation has changed drastically and there are many image building campaigns taking place to boost their profession,” says Human Resources Manager Indika Ranathunga who works at E.A.M Maliban, which employs over 16,000 people.

Inspirational speakers, reality shows and regular interaction with workers are some of the ways that image building happens but large factories still lose anywhere between 60-100 employees every month.

“It is not just the competitiveness between companies. Most of the workers have short term goals and once they have bought a motorbike or a fridge and see a chance to get a raise they just leave without considering that staying on in one company can get them greater opportunities of promotion.”

According to the umbrella organisation of the industry, the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) there are over 350 factories around the country and apparel is one of the key investments in the economic zones scattered in populous areas. Therefore jobs are abundant and while they do not always pay well, some factories offer a basic salary of Rs. 13,000 (about 125 US dollars) a month, the chance to get a new job is always open.   

Despite the economic downturn in Europe and the US that absorbs over 60 per cent of Sri Lanka’s apparel exports the numbers told a positive story at the end of 2011. JAAF announced that the industry has grown by 47 per cent in exports to the European Union (EU) and by 28 per cent to the US.  

Moreover turnover has reached 1.64 billion U.S. dollars from the EU and 1.2 billion US dollars from America and over 300 million US dollars from other countries bringing the latest earnings to 4 billion US dollars by December 2011. This is the highest earnings that the apparel industry has enjoyed in history. JAAF is also well on its way to hitting the 5 billion US dollar mark well before its initial deadline of 2015.

Sri Lanka has benefited from the growth of labour prices in China and Bangladesh as well as the crisis in Egypt with more global labels entering the market and the industry launching its own designer labels both within the country and in neighbouring India.   

The Association is focusing on expanding exports to different countries in 2012, motivated by a 17 per cent increase to markets outside of the EU and US in 2011. This will include China, India, Brazil, Russia, Japan and Pakistan after the government adopted a plan to make Sri Lanka an apparel hub.

The government is planning to implement policies that will develop Sri Lanka as a commercial hub for trans-shipment and supply chain making it a more holistic sourcing destination. This reputation is buoyed by Sri Lanka’s reputation for respecting the highest standards of worker welfare, which has been promoted in the ‘Garments without Guilt’ branding campaign.

Most factories in addition to the salary provide meals, transport, health insurance and even food baskets in some instances but still struggle to retain staff. Another reason is the relatively tough working conditions, with few factories other than the big players investing on technology, thereby making work tedious.  

This also reduces efficiency and makes working hours more difficult. Smart companies have empowered women and engage with their workers to encourage them to keep at their jobs by pointing out future promotions and earning opportunities. They also allow the female workers to take extra classes with many favouring sewing, bridal dressing and other self-employment options to earn an extra income.

“For many women, the apparel industry is the most available path to financial independence. But demands to take care of children and elderly parents in most instances motivate them to leave their jobs. Ten hour work days that keep them away from their home responsibilities as well as easy re-employment options are other reasons,” Ranathunga summed up.

Growing economic development after a three decade war that ended in 2009 is also posing challenges with income levels increasing and lifestyle expectations becoming more extravagant. Sri Lanka’s emergence as a middle income country is also expected to add to the challenge of finding and retaining low cost labour.

Aware of these challenges the industry is gradually moving to the former war zones in the northern part of the country but whether this ploy will be successful, only time will tell. For the women who work in these factories the challenges remains the same as those of most women. Many want to educate their children, support their families, build a home and save for the future.

As International Women’s Day dawns it is surely time to acknowledge the services that are provided to the country by these women and see them in a positive and even inspirational light. They are not victims and should not be considered as such. Apparel professionals need to be given the same salaries as their male counterparts and the recognition of having worked their way to financial independence.

 More than a dozen women that were interviewed by this publication had undergone the same deprivations of poverty and reduced opportunities.  The fact that they rose from the circumstances that they were born into and worked to better not just their lives but the lives of those around them and through that the entire country is a fact that should never be forgotten.