Study Aims to Find Linkages Between Global Supply Chain & Leather Homeworkers In Tamil Nadu

The report on Finding the Hidden Homeworkers in the footwear supply chain in South India documents the working conditions of home-based workers in the leather footwear sector in Ambur in Tamil Nadu. Through this exploration, the report aims to understand the strong linkages between the global leather supply chain and the working conditions of leather homeworkers so that brands recognize their contributions.

Eighty women workers were surveyed using the semi-structured questionnaire and a non-random sampling method. Interviews attempted to investigate the following areas such as:

a) Working conditions

b) Nature of Agreements

c) Working hours, income and payment

d) Access to social security/basic service

e) Social Protection/Assistance

f) Collective Voice

 In addition to the interviews with leather homeworkers, four intermediaries were also interviewed to get their perspective. The research team also undertook photo documentation of various articles that the homeworkers produce to link their work to the global supply chain. 

The study shows that the women engage in leather work to assist their family’s primary earner. It also provides them with the flexibility to do care work and household chores.  Almost all the workers reported that they suffer from health issues – hip pain, shoulder pain and injuries – due to long hours. 

Employment relations

However, the contractors do not provide any safety equipment or other health benefits to these workers. 97% of the respondents said that they collect work from the subcontractor or agents; 80% of the respondents said that they don’t have any work agreements with their agent or subcontractor; 17.5% of them have just a verbal agreement. It is notable that 10% of the respondents mentioned that they have a job card or diary that was countersigned by the agent. This is interesting as this is the first instance of workers reporting work records attested by agents. 

Working Hours

The respondents said that they tend to work extra hours during the peak season as they take on additional work to make more money or after being compelled by the contractor. 61% of the homeworkers reported that they get verbally abused by the contractor/agent if they fail to complete the work on time.  98% of the respondents said that they were paid on piece rates. This varied from Rs 6 to 15 per pair. When the piece rates are converted into potential earnings for 8-hour workdays, it shows that the homeworkers were paid less than 50% of the minimum wage. 

Linkages with the international market

The report also shows that the workers have strong links with the global supply chain of leather products that are mostly exported to Europe. 63% of the respondents interviewed informed that they stitch products which are sold in the international market and that they learnt this through various sources including information shared by the agents (39%), and family members working in the shoe factory (17%), etc.  The Covid 19 pandemic had a severe impact on the leather value chain.  82.5% of the respondents said that post pandemic, the amount of work they receive has come down.  

Recommendations

The report details recommendations for various stakeholders, including the brands in the leather supply chain, to work together to improve the lives and livelihoods of home-based workers. The main recommendations to retailers and brands include:

  • Adopt a Homeworker policy which takes an inclusive approach to the presence of homeworkers in supply chains and is compliant with or more robust than the Hidden Homeworker policy, and promote its uptake by leather footwear suppliers in Tamil Nadu. 
  • Support your suppliers to implement mechanisms to improve transparency around homeworkers and piece rates, using the tools and resources available in the Hidden Homeworkers toolkit. 

Read the entire report here.