Left loses ground among workers in garments hub of Tirupur

Soundar has lived in Tirupur ever since his father, originally a weaver, moved to the garment manufacturing town to get a job in a factory. When he was in his teens, Soundar joined one of the many garments factories and now works as a pattern designer, but little has changed since his father left the loom for a factory job five decades ago. “My lifestyle and living conditions are just as poor as his were,“ says Soundar.
With elections around the corner, thousands of garment workers in Tirupur, which accounts for 75% of India's garments exports, are hoping candidates will look into their demands -better housing, higher wages and an ESI hospital.
Tirupur's garment factories employ five lakh workers, of which about a lakh are from Bihar, Odisha and other northern states. About 2.5 lakh workers are from the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, while 70,000 to 80,000 workers are from Tirupur. “ And 90% of them are homeless or live in 10x10 rooms,“ said G Sampath, general secretary of Baniyan and Pothu Thozhilalar Sangam, a workers' union.“Since migrant workers do not demand higher wages, the local garment workers also suffer,“ said Sampath.“The government must build housing for workers.“
From the 1950s to the 1980s, vests manufactured in Tirupur were sold in the domestic market. By 1984, manu facturers began exporting goods, and by 1990, it became the dollar city . As the demand for yarn and garments rose, so did the number of workers and factories but not the conditions of work.
Initially , the workers were associated with trade unions such as CITU and AITUC. “Earlier, only the Left and Congress fielded candidates.
Most of us voted for Communist candidates. When DMK was formed, Congress lost its small support base.But it is the Communist parties that hold sway ,“ said P Balan, a retired garment worker. The sitting MLA of Tirupur South is CPM's Thangavel, who is defending his constituency this time.
Trade unions, however, have lost their hold over the last decade,weakened by Central government policies. “People from various districts be gan coming Tirupur and unions could not unite them all. Introduction of technology weakened trade unions further,“ said Kalidas, a designer.
Aravind S, a factory owner, said the Left won seats only because they allied with AIADMK, which continued to benefit from MGR magic. “The Left has never won a majority on its own,“ he said.
The general opinion is that Tirupur is self-reliant and self-sustaining.“All the current factory owners were once labourers. I started my career as a tailor in a factory,“ said K Subramanian, a garment factory owner. “Tirupur has never been dependent on political parties or governments for development. Whatever Tirupur is today is because of the hard work of its people.“