NOIDA: More than 40% of contractual workers have been laid off from Noida’s garment industry in the past 40 days after demonetisation was announced.
Gautam Budh Nagar district labour department and workers’ associations confirmed that while many garment export and manufacturing units have started pulling down shutters, many people who work on a contractual basis have been rendered jobless.
Noida has 1,800 garment manufacturing and export units. Of the people employed in the garment industry, a large number get paid on the basis of the work they get each day. Such employees include tailors, people who fix buttons, zippers, labels and add finishing touches to the apparels. These workers, who are daily wagers, do not have bank accounts. According to the district labour department, most of such contract workers from states like Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have gone back to their states over the past month as a direct result of the cash crunch triggered by demonetisation.
Ritesh Kumar Jha, secretary, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, an association working for labour rights in Noida, told TOI that two garment manufacturing units have shut down in sectors 4 and 5 over the past two days, having rendered more than 300 workers jobless overnight.
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