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NEWSLETTER 16, February
2003
MADE IN
TURKEY
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Labour Behind the Label (CCC UK) invited Asuman Erendil
to speak about the Turkish garment industry at their annual
general meeting on 26 September 2002. The following article
is based on her presentation. Erendil has researched one
of the new garment manufacturing centers that has developed
as a result of Turkey's drive for exports. She has also
carried out research on the contribution of women -- including
homeworkers -- to Istanbul's garment industry. She is a
member of the Working Group on Turkish Women Homeworkers.
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"Only 4% of garment workers
are unionized, usually in the bigger factories"
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The birth of Turkey's export-oriented clothes and textile
industry dates back to the 1980s when production for export
was encouraged by direct governmental support and by the
falling cost of labor, Erendil explained. Garments rose
from 9% of total exports in 1980 to 28% in 1995. Since then
however, garment exports have stagnated and were at 26%
in 2000. This is due to a series of financial and economic
crises experienced by Turkey as well as to new competition.
An economic crisis in 1994 was followed by the more severe
crises of 1997 and 1998, which were aftershocks of Asian
and Russian financial and economic crises. Because Russia
and Asian countries are the main market for the range of
cheaper garments produced by Turkey, exporters and a large
number of sub-contractors were badly affected. Two further
financial crises in 2000 and 2001 followed by a substantial
currency devaluation have also had drastic effects on producers
with high bank loans and led to a large number of bankruptcies.
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"Migrant women make up 60%
of the garment industry labor force"
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The entry of North Africa and Eastern Europe, especially
Bulgaria and Romania, into garment production has also been
detrimental to the Turkish industry. Because they offer
high tax exemptions, lower labor costs, and unused quotas,
these countries have proved to be serious competition, Erendil
reported.
Many garment companies in Turkey have suffered losses as
a result of all these factors.
The structure of the Turkish garment industry
Official statistics show that registered employment in
the garment industry increased by about 50% between 1985
and 2000 to reach 9.5% of the manufacturing workforce in
2000. But these statistics do not reflect the actual situation.
The total number of workers in the textile and garment sectors
is said to be five times more than the official number.
The Turkish garment industry is, like the industry elsewhere,
characterized by extensive subcontracting arrangements.
Via this intricate production chain production is subcontracted
to small firms, employing mainly women, including homeworkers.
There are two distinct chains of production in Turkey:
Poverty wages
Erendil reported that 70% of women garment workers earn
between 50 and 75% of the legal minimum wage, a wage that
is already far too low to live on.
The poverty threshold is lower in Turkey in 2002 than it
was in 1994, meaning that the poor now live on less income
than eight years ago. This decline is more marked in Istanbul,
where much of the garment industry is located, than elsewhere.
Only 4% of garment workers are unionized, usually in the
bigger factories. Trade unions were prohibited until 1985
and still have little power. Workers themselves often view
trade union membership as problematic or fear becoming involved.
They are known to bypass unions when negotiating wages.
The impact on women workers
Fierce competition has led to demands for a "flexible"
labor force. In practice, this has meant high turnover among
workers and the use of temporary employment to meet the
fluctuating labor demand associated with short-term economic
cycles. In Turkey as elsewhere, women form the majority
of this new, flexible, informal economy workforce - where
regulation of working conditions is very limited.
The main source of female labor in Turkey has been migrant
families, initially rural-to-urban migrants but in the last
five years this has included families that have migrated
from Romania, Bulgaria, and Russia.
Generally, first generation rural migrant women were reluctant
to work outside the home, Erendil explained, except to do
paid housework, because neither they nor the men were ready
for the change in gender roles this implied. Attitudes began
to change as their daughters grew familiar with urban ways
of life. The changes this implied, in terms of increased
independence for women for instance, were gradually accepted.
However, these women did not secure educational or vocational
qualifications. They became incorporated into the labor
market mainly via the informal sector. Today they still
represent the main source of labor (60%) for the garment
industry. It is common for several women from the same family
to be working in the garment sector.
In the mid-nineties, the number of homeworkers decreased
as employers, being able to pay them low wages anyway, preferred
to have them work in workshops and so avoid having to deliver
work to their homes. This trend was reversed, and homeworking
was on the rise again in the late nineties, when women who
had been laid off as a result of economic crises began to
work from home again. Also among those working from home
are women who are too old to go out to work, women unable
to work outside their homes because they have small children,
and those whose conservative families do not allow them
to work outside the home.
Homeworking women are invisible to the state (they are
not included in statistics), to society, and even to themselves
in the sense that they often do not consider themselves
to be workers. Most problematic for homeworkers is the lack
of any social security protection and the unsuitability
of homes for working purposes, leading to health problems
(respiratory and ergonomic) and to a number of hazards for
young children.
The Working Group on Turkish Women Homeworkers
The Working Group on Turkish Women Homeworkers, which Erendil
represents, is an informal group of interested women professionals,
researchers, and activists. The working group was formed
by some of the organizers and participants in a workshop
on homeworking held in Istanbul in October 1999. Individual
efforts to raise awareness of homeworking in Turkey, however,
date back to 1994.
The Working Group aims to:
The organization provides training workshops for homeworkers
to learn how to organize themselves. Representatives of
a number of organizations are sometimes invited to training
events, not only to convey information to the women, but
also to learn from them. For example, representatives from
the labor ministries are sometimes invited (to raise official
awareness of the existence and situation of homeworkers)
as are people from trade unions (who consider homeworkers
to be competitors and tend to fail to understand the circumstances
in which homeworking becomes necessary). Factory workers
are also invited to these workshops, so that homeworkers
can meet workers who enjoy social security benefits and
so they become more aware of each others' circumstances.
At the moment, the organization is lobbying for homeworkers
to be eligible for social security benefits and for employers
to take responsibility for the workers' health and safety.
The CCC is curently expanding its contact base in Turkey.
For more information or to become involved, please contact
the CCC International Secretariat
