FIVE textile mills in the Tamil Nadu area of India – linked indirectly to several high-profile high-street retailers including H&M, Primark and C&A – have been accused of forced labour in a report entitled “Flawed Fabrics”.
The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) are responsible for the report, which was compiled “through a mixture of desk research and interviews on the ground with workers employed at five Tamil Nadu spinning mills”. It concludes “that several core labour rights are being violated. Girls and young women are being lured from their home villages by false promises and are working under appalling conditions amounting to forced labour” – a practice known as the Sumangali Scheme.
The mills in question are Best Cotton Mills; Jeyavishnu Spintex, the knitwear manufacturer named K.M. Knitwear; Premier Mills, part of The Premier Group; Sulochana Cotton Spinning Mills, a part of The Sulochana Group; and Super Spinning Mills, part of the Sara Elgi Group, reports WWD.
In most cases the mills are used by the retailers’ suppliers who order yarn, meaning that there is no direct link, however many companies that are associated with the mills have announced that they plan to take action immediately.
Flawed fabrics
The abuse of girls and women workers in the South Indian textile industry
Through a mixture of desk research and interviews on the ground with workers employed at five Tamil Nadu spinning mills, this joint report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) concludes that several core labour rights are being violated. Girls and young women are being lured from their home villages by false promises and are working under appalling conditions amounting to forced labour.
With this report, SOMO and ICN aim to push producers and buying companies towards actively assuming their corporate responsibility to respect human rights in their own operations as well as in their supply chains. SOMO, ICN and local labour rights groups are also calling on the Indian government and governments on the buying end of the supply chain to protect labour rights in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and Indian law.
- Flawed fabrics.pdf (Size 2.9 MB)
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