Published
Jun 27, 2018
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Campaigners insist garment workers' conditions are not improving in Tamil Nadu

Published
Jun 27, 2018

On June 26, Reuters reported that campaigners in India are still dissatisfied with garment workers’ conditions and maintain that international regulatory authorities are not enforcing their own laws.

Campaigners in India are still dissatisfied with garment workers’ conditions


The Serene Secular Social Service Society, set up to empower garment manufacturers, has reported that, although there are international organisations designed to monitor garment workers’ rights in India, these organisations are not properly enforcing their own regulations. The society opined that both Social Accountability International (SAI) from the US and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) from the UK are not correctly enforcing their worker protection procedures in the Indian garment industry.

S. James Victor, the Director of the Serene Secular Social Service Society, told Reuters: “The organisations are violating the rules of the mechanisms they created by not taking time bound action against complaints that come up.” Victor also stated that sexual harassment, dangerous working conditions, and abuses are still commonplace in the factories. “They are far removed from ground reality. The fact is that every day a worker continues to face workplace harassment in the spinning mills and garment factories of Tamil Nadu,” said Victor.

Tamil Nadu is India’s largest garment production hub and has over 1,500 mills in the state. Sujata Mody of the 3,000 member strong Garment and Fashion Workers Union stated that an overwhelming number of workers are “victimised” and are not able to make complaints.

Other organisations for garment workers’ rights including the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) have also spoken out about continued poor worker conditions. Campaigners are arguing that, although monitoring measures are in place to protect Indian garment workers, they are not being properly implemented.

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