Australia

Child Labour

An estimated 70,000 Australian children as young as eight now work as home-workers for the garment industry as companies shift operations to the informal sector, says Australia’s Textile Clothing and Footwear Union (TCFU). They toil in backyard and home-based sweatshops under Third World conditions.

The TCFU says the problem is hidden behind a wall of fear caused by poor language skills, blackmail and a lack of understanding about workers’ rights.
One Sydney child labourer who said she started work when she was seven and described how her family sometimes worked 24 hours a day to meet rush orders.
The TCFU estimates there are 329,000 garment home-workers in Australia, and that 25 to 50 percent of home-worker families use children.

“For the 15 years that I have been working here, there have been children working from home; the only thing that has changed is the nationality,” said Barry Tubner, New South Wales TCFU secretary.

Anne Delaney, TCFU home-worker co-ordinator, said home-worker families were too frightened of retribution from contractors to speak out publicly.

From Child Labour News Service, 1 January 2000