The Peruvian government has recently received letters from major transnational apparel companies and trade unions, criticizing the working conditions in this country´s textile industry, and especially a legal regime that allows very short term contracts for workers and discourages unionization.
Spokespeople for the government and the industry argue that such flexibility is necessary to maintain global competitiveness and generate new employment. Foreign critics are charged with “labor imperialism” and hypocrisy (for example, when the same firms enjoy similar labor regimes in the U.S., or do business in Bangladesh). As one local manager of a Korean multinational put it, foreigners have no business teaching Peru lessons in labor rights, “without knowing our history” (El Comercio 19-5-131FRENTE A FRENTE.PDF).
It is precisely that history that first brought me to Peru, many years ago, to participate in a research project on the social history of Lima in the early 20th century. Under the guidance of historian Steve Stein, then at SUNY – Stony Brook, my task involved studying the textile workers, a small group of men and women who played a large role in founding Peru´s organized labor movement. Between 1981 and 1982 I interviewed numerous retired textile workers, still living in the old factory neighborhoods of La Victoria, Rímac and Vitarte, as well as pouring over archives and family memories. Both for nostalgia and for comparative purposes, I want to share a summary of this work, (1Textiles en Lima.pdf ), published in Spanish in a volume edited by Aldo Panfichi and Felipe Portcarrero, Mundos Interiores: Lima 1850-1950 (Lima: CIUP 1995).
Between 1900 and 1930, textile workers became 14% of the Lima work force, or roughly 4,988 people. Entire families worked in the factories, where women might comprise up to 60% of the crew and employment of minors was widespread. Although these workers were largely mestizos (or mixed race) from the coast, in a largely indigenous nation, they were seen as inferior cholos by the white managers and foreign owners, whose treatment ranged from good-hearted paternalism to outright exploitation.
Textile workers at that time were paid by the piece and had up to 16-hour work days. Although the factories were modern for the times, the laborers´ health was threatened by the constant noise of the machinery, persistent dust and cold humid air. Yet in these conditions, textile workers banded together to form a strong sector union and a national labor confederation, leading strikes and protests that conquered the eight-hour work day for all Peruvians – in 1918 – and other fundamental rights.
Today, nearly a century later, Peru´s textile industry is much larger, diverse and globalized. The public face of the sector is Gamarra, the successful garment emporium recently visited by Hillary Clinton, and not the upper class and foreign owners of yesteryear. According to various sources, the industry now employs over 180,000 workers, of which less than 5 percent are unionized and have collective bargaining rights. By somereports, the majority work more than eight hour shifts, their pay is still by the piece, and there is considerable dissatisfaction with the work. Yet surveys and testimonies suggest that many workers – such as these three women – fear being fired for trying to unionize.
Peru is not Bangladesh, that is very clear. But as history tells us, there is still much to be done.
Update: In El Comercio today (21-5-13), the President of the National Industrialists Society (SNI) says there are 411,000 workers in Peru´s textile and garment industry, of which 99,000 (24%) have formal labor contracts and 78,000 of these are under the legal framework questioned by the abovementioned international brands and the IndustriaALL Global Union. This means that the situation of the other 76% is probably worse.
In the major Peruvian weekly Caretas this week (No. 2283, 16-5-13), the Mayor of the La Victoria districtwarns of serious risks in the Gamarra textile emporium, where there are approximately 20,000 firms operating in precarious conditions, and at least 70% of the constructions are informal and may not comply with acceptable building standards. “We do not have the extremes of Bangladesh, but there is heavy overcrowding, the informality is widespread, and salaries are low”, the mayor says, “And yes, there is the danger that at any moment something can blow up”.
Versión en Español: http://blogs.up.edu.pe/csanborn/los-y-las-trabajadores-textiles-ayer-y-hoy/
