Video: Cotton pickers hired by the employees of public organizations

On September 27, 2017, activist Malokhat Eshonkulova visited cotton fields in the Dustlik district of the Djizak region where she spoke to cotton pickers.

She learned that 1,100 collectors, mostly hired by employees of various tax offices of Tashkent city, as well as the city enterprise TransYol, had arrived in the Dustlik district.

One of the workers said that she came to work for an employee of the tax inspection office of the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent who had paid her 600,000 soums ($75) to pick cotton for one month.

Cotton pickers hired by the employees of public organizations receive payment from the employee and receive an additional payment for the cotton they pick at a rate of $0,06 per kilo.

Around 170 hired workers are living in the sports hall of the local college in the village of Navruz (Djizak region). A number of women have complained to activists about the lack of washing facilities, the scarcity of food, and the lack of clean drinking water on the field.