In some of these factories, power looms are operated by children. Dr. Joyce Shankaran, Secretary of the Maharashta, Bombay Department of Labor, confirmed that children work on the looms in Bhiwande. She said that the looms are found within the home, where entire families take on piecework. Dr. Shankaran remarked that the children do not work full-time on the looms, but help after school. Operations such as sewing buttons and other trimmings are also conducted as part of this homework.
Children perform low-skill duties such as cleaning and sweeping.
He estimated that small-scale shops or cottage industry constitute 10 percent of the factories in Tirupur. Most persons interviewed in the Philippines , including government and labor officials and representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce Garment Industry Committee, acknowledged that although child labor is not found in significant numbers in the large garment factories, children do work in subcontracting operations and in homework situations. When production deadlines approach and quotas must be met, pressure to meet an order leads to high rates of school absenteeism as the children stay home to work. The Personnel Manager of A La Mode, a garment manufacturer in Quezon City, the Philippines , noted that although his firm tries to comply with child labor laws, he cannot personnally vouch for subcontractors. A La Mode produces for Triumph, Ltd, a Hong Kong-based buyer which purchases garments for a number of U.S. brand name apparel firms, including The Gap.