In Serbia, there are 1.687 registered factories in the textile, clothing, leather and footwear sector, and the number of registered employees in this area is 60.725. Workers in this industry they face inhumane working conditions, and wages are usually far below the national average. They often sew these dyes clothes and shoes for well-known global brands, but the workers in them do not have "world-class working conditions", according to research conducted by the Center for Emancipation Policies (CPE), writes Katarina Pantelić for The new economy.
Research that provides a detailed insight into working conditions in the textile industry shows that the share of textiles, clothing, leather and products in Serbia's total exports is 5,8 percent.
According to the data, in the period from 2018 to 2022, Serbia attracted more than half of the total foreign direct investments in the Western Balkans region, and investments in the automotive sector (15,9 percent), food industry (11,6 percent), textiles (9,1 percent), electronics (5,6 percent) and construction (5,6 percent) contributed the most to this.
The textile sector did not stop attracting foreign direct investments even later, so in the period from 2019 to 2023, the total net inflow of foreign direct investments in the textile, leather and footwear industry amounted to 179,4 million euros, and the largest inflow was recorded in 2021 (61,5 million euros).
"She endured, and when she was done she died"
The representative of the Center for Emancipation Policies, Bojana Tamindzija, stated for New Economy that the textile, clothing and footwear sector in Serbia is characterized by a whole set of labor rights violations, of which workers most often complain about the denial of the right to sick leave, inadequate or non-existent ventilation and air conditioning.
"It is not unusual to pass out during working hours from heat and fumes, overtime work beyond the legally allowed limit on a weekly or monthly basis, and abuse of the institute of redistribution of working hours," she states.
During the research conducted by CPE, when asked if they were satisfied with safety in the workplace, almost half of the surveyed workers answered negatively. Many workers rated certain segments of occupational safety as unsatisfactory.
As the main problems of female workers in one of the five surveyed factories, they mentioned inadequate temperature in the workplace, especially during the summer, followed by dust, noise and stuffiness. In addition, the workers stated that there are not enough sanitary facilities, as well as that the hygiene in the toilets is not adequate (irregular cleaning, lack of soap and toilet paper).
Two thirds of the respondents stated that they or their colleagues had or still have health problems as a result of the conditions in which they work.
Joint and spine problems, vision and hearing impairments, respiratory allergies, and heart diseases are the most common. Despite this, only two out of five factories organize periodic medical examinations for employees, usually once a year.
Interviewees from factories where this is the practice state that these examinations are mostly a formality and that they even ignore the health problems that the workers complain about.
Almost all respondents had injuries at work or witnessed injuries to their colleagues.
They believe that many injuries at work occur due to fatigue and exhaustion, as well as excessive pressure to achieve excessively high standards. In all factories, the interviewees report that fainting from fatigue, high temperatures and lack of ventilation is a regular occurrence.
Among other injuries, the most common are injuries to fingers and hands (stitching fingers, cuts and stings). In one of the five examined factories, according to the testimony of female workers, there were deaths due to direct injury at the workplace.
"One colleague complained that she had a headache, she asked to leave at half past two, but they didn't let her. She lasted, and when she finished she died. Maybe they told her with good intentions to wait another half hour so that she wouldn't have to work," says one of the workers.
Given that workers in Serbia sew clothes and shoes for well-known global brands, the question arises whether it is important for those brands and whether they pay attention to the working conditions in the countries where they have factories.
Tamindžija from CPE emphasized that working conditions and earnings are almost identical everywhere.
"If there are differences, we are talking about nuances. The situation is equally bad in terms of working conditions and wages in all countries of the region, including European Union member countries such as Romania, Bulgaria or Italy," she stated.
When you exceed the norm, you get a candy
The average net salary in the clothing industry in 2024 was 61.133 dinars, or about 520 euros, while the average net salary in Serbia was 96.745 dinars, or 825 euros.
According to Tamindžija, in the textile sector the basic salary is generally the minimum wage, and overtime hours and bonuses are an equally important component of earnings.
However, the violation of labor rights and low wages are a direct consequence of a business model that puts profit first, claims Tamindzija.
"We have a pig, we take concentrate on credit, so when you sell the pig, you take cash and something like that. I have a greenhouse, I sell cabbage, tomatoes, and white potatoes at wholesale markets. If a kilo of tomatoes is now 200 dinars in the store, the one who didn't deal with it takes more than me, who broke in the field. Everything in my house is second-hand," said one worker.
"The constant demand for higher productivity leads to unrealistic norms, on the other hand, unrealistic norms serve as a pressure mechanism by which workers are blackmailed and intimidated, while the increase in productivity does not mean an increase in earnings, but an increase in profits for shareholders," she said.
She added that the executive managers in the brand's headquarters formally undertake to increase profits for the shareholders when they take office, which means that if they do not achieve this, they are violating the terms of their employment contract.
"The Clean Clothes Campaign network submits all its research and findings to the brands that have been investigated. Occasionally, certain brands react and correct the irregularities that the research points to, however the goal of our research is not individual and isolated solutions, although every improvement is significant. Our goal is to point out that labor rights violations and hyper-exploitation are an integral part of the supply chains of the entire fashion industry and that we need radical and structural changes at the global level if we really want to solve the problem," she said.
On the one hand, crises in the operation of the factory, as well as successful operations, do not have a major impact on the growth or decrease in wages of workers. When they "throw out" a sufficient number of products, or exceed the norm, the workers are rewarded in ways they consider humiliating: applause, juice, sweets.
Work in the factory is organized according to the principle of individual norms. The foreman sets a "performance" (norm) that the worker must reach that day and it is written on a tablet that stands above the head of each worker. The workers enter the number of pieces of clothing made into the tablet.
Since the norm is set according to the fastest worker, some of the interviewed younger workers state that they sometimes deliberately slow down in a small act of solidarity - so that the female foreman would not raise the norm for other women when they see how much one can do.
"I never received more than 56.000 with all the bonuses and overtime and Saturdays. I had months when I was on 42.000. And there I work on packaging and I see the prices and buzzers and those Hugo Boss pants cost 27.000 dinars," said one of the workers.
Serbia - a country of cheap labor
The CPE research states that the textile sector is closely related to the interest of multinational corporations, so the question arises as to how interested these corporations are in our country and what attracts them to come.
Tamindžija states that the reason for the arrival of multinational companies lies in the fact that Serbia is established as a country of cheap labor.
"The geographical location also plays a role, because unlike the countries of South and Southeast Asia, where the largest percentage of the world's clothing production is concentrated, we are closer to the Western European market. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, multinational corporations attract subsidies. If we compare the amount that companies receive per workplace with the wages of male and female workers, it is easy to see that labor costs have been equal to zero even for several years," she adds.
The arrival of big fashion brands in Serbia was also helped by the signing of favorable trade agreements with the European Union.
Also, the drop in the number of employees by around 3.000 in this sector from 2019 to 2023 is no accident. The complete cessation of production of companies that employed a relatively large number of workers produced that result.
An example of this is the Italian company Geox, which, after the expiration of subsidies and contractual obligations with the state of Serbia, relocated its production, leaving around 2021 workers jobless in 1.200.
The following year, Turkish Bertex laid off around 100 workers, and two years later, Jeansi laid off 700 employees. At the beginning of this year, another Turkish company fired 100 female workers, according to the employer, due to the sudden termination of business with Zara.
Subsidies, subsidies
In such situations, the Government of Serbia usually reaches for new subsidies, so that the newly created jobs can temporarily absorb the laid-off workers. The right to severance pay is not even mentioned, because this obligation does not exist in the company's contract with the state.
"We live in a world in which 85 percent of world trade is controlled by multinational corporations and in which dependent economies like Serbia are forced to compete with other countries of the semi-periphery and periphery of capitalism in reducing labor rights and wages in order not to attract investments, hence the subsidies. It is a so-called "race to the bottom" where the amount of the minimum wage is a politically negotiated category that has no contact points with the real costs of living and whose amount levitates around the poverty line for three-member family", says Tamindzija.
However, such low earnings for companies are "little", so "more and more generous" subsidies, tax breaks and free infrastructure are added.
"The fate of all factories in Serbia that are part of the supply chains of large companies is not in our hands, and that makes a dependent economy vulnerable. Companies will behave as they see fit, i.e. they will do what is profitable for them and they will do everything to protect their interests," Tamindžija said and cited the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic as an example that illustrates this, when chain fashion brands started canceling orders to their suppliers and refused to pay for already produced contingents of clothing.
Thus, as he states, they left the workers of the Global South in the midst of pandemic agony without work and without any compensation.
"In this way, the burden of the crisis fell on the most sensitive sections of the population without any savings, which were eventually amortized by the state. At the time, fashion brands were estimated to owe five to six billion dollars in unpaid wages to workers. In our country, at the beginning of the pandemic, the state "jumped in" with foreign capital with subsidies in the name of wages, and when individual companies leave Serbia, the state modestly amortizes the loss of jobs through benefits from the unemployment office. This type of model is of course favorable for capital, and we have to think long-term politically about how to get out of this vicious circle," she said.
In the meantime, as he says, pressure campaigns that could potentially result in at least severance pay for laid-off workers are also solutions.
"An important tool is the new legislation that obliges corporations to respect labor rights, standardize working conditions and ensure compliance with environmental standards such as the German Law on Due Diligence in Supply Chains or the European Directive on Corporate Responsibility. These laws are not perfect, but they are an important step that was preceded by years of struggle, but also an important tool because, colloquially speaking, they point to the "main culprits" of multinational corporations and the current business model," she adds.
It's a little different with the union
"Since the union was formed, they are not allowed to do a lot of things, we intervene as soon as someone is transferred somewhere or whatever happens, in the past people did not know their rights, but it is a little different with the union", stated one of the workers, as published in the CPE publication.
Your labor rights and their implementation in trade union organization. In one of the factories whose workers were interviewed for the purposes of the research, even those who are not members of the union recognize and appreciate the struggle of the union for better working conditions.
In factories where there are no trade unions, as reasons for the lack of organization, respondents mostly cite fear of dismissal, discord among workers and lack of interest.
All respondents have an indefinite employment contract, and they state that the employer's practice is to give this contract from the very beginning of employment, with a trial period of six months.
However, none of them see the contract of indefinite employment as a protection against dismissal: because of the constant warnings and threats they are exposed to (in case of a drop in performance or sick leave) or because of the general insecurity reflected in the threat that the factory may be closed because "they never know when they will put the key to it all".
Discrimination
Most of the interviewees, workers in the factory, claim that they have not experienced or witnessed discrimination at the workplace, but one third of them testify that they were exposed to abuse at the workplace, shouting, insults and pressures, most often due to the use of sick leave and the inability to achieve the set norm.
As examples of discrimination, insults and disparagement on racial grounds are cited, most often of Roma workers.
One of the managers from abroad constantly walked around one worker, threw things at her and groped her in the passage. She wanted to press charges, but they said they were going to sue her for false accusation and we haven't seen her since. I think she got fired.
In one of the factories, a third of the respondents stated that they had witnessed sexual harassment of female colleagues by people employed in the management of the factory.
In accordance with the previously signed agreement, the satellite TV service EON SAT (Total TV) was sold by United Group to Telekom Srbija. The SBB company wants to inform the public about transaction details and information relevant to existing users of this platform in a clear and transparent manner. Although the process is not yet fully completed, users of the satellite service now practically become users of Telekom Srbija.
From April 3, users will get over 90 new channels. At the request of the new owner, the order of the channels will be adapted to the Telekom Srbija program scheme - their channels are listed first, followed by channels that are not owned by this company.
Source: New Economy
