Garment jobs lost: 60, most machinists, sent home

By Sheetal Singh
Tuesday, July 07, 2009

GARMENT workers in one of Lautoka's textile factory are contemplating their future after close to 60 employees were sent home.

Workers believe the move taken by the management of Treekam Apparel Lautoka since last week is a result of the new Wages Regulation Order, resulting in close to 20 per cent increase across the board.

Garment workers, who refused to be identified for fear of victimisation, said they didn't know what to do.

"My husband is not working and I was the sole breadwinner in the family. I was asked to go home and wait for word from the company on when they might have a job for me. It has been a week now and still nothing from them," she said.

"I need to find a job soon because of my children who go to school."

Another worker said her family would need to dig deeper to survive.

"This is a slack period and there are hardly any job vacancy available," she said.

"The best option is to look for another job. Most of us were machinists, and with the price of food items increasing because of the economic downturn around the world, we have to think what we will feed our family for the next meal."

Other workers, who are still employed, fear losing their jobs if employers cut costs more to abide by the Wage Order.

Attempts to obtain comments from Treekam's managing director Rohit Treekam remained futile yesterday despite messages left at his office.