Search results
40 results
Sort by:
Subcontracted workers discriminated against
The Contemporary Classic factory in India was illegally subcontracting 300 of its 350 workers. The subcontracted workers were discriminated against: they received lower wages than the others, due to additional deductions. In April 2012 union leader Mohanlal was illegally dismissed after raising these issues. Contemporary Classic produced for Milan-based brand Piazza Italia.
Conditions improved
After filing a complaint about working conditions and contract issues at the Orion Conmerx factory in Gurgaon, most of the 41 workers who signed the complaint were either laid off or forced to resign. After follow-up action by the Worker Rights Consortium and the Clean Clothes Campaign, contract terms have been improved.
Union stronger through struggle
The Unitex Exports factory in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, illegally closed down on November 1st 2011. 120 workers were left jobless without receiving compensation, retirement benefits, health insurance or overdue wages. The workers’ union has become stronger through dealing with these issues, and launched a Fair Wage campaign in May.
Factory tries to dodge inflation correction
Gokaldas Exports refused to pay an increased inflation correction fee to approximately 9,900 workers in six of their factories in Bangalore. The Clean Clothes Campaign and the Workers Rights Consortium contacted main buyers H&M and Adidas. They discussed the issue with Gokaldas, after which the so-called Dearness Allowance was paid to the workers, including back payment.
Workers singled out for organising a union
After workers of the Modelama factory in North India registered their union in December 2012, the management dismissed fourteen workers. The union's general secretary and two other workers were transferred to remote factories in retaliation for their work with the union. Although an initial agreement was reached to reinstate the workers, the company continues to harass the union. Buyers include Gap and Next.
Fired for resisting sexual harassment
In September 2013, a female worker was fired after fighting back against sexual harassment. The intimidation had started immediately after she began working in the Richa Global factory in Gurgaon, which was producing for Lidl. When other workers protested against her dismissal, 87 of them were fired too.
Employees replaced by contract workers
The situation at the Modelama Exports factory in North India has not improved. Around 200 workers on permanent contracts were fired or forced to leave due to the lack of overtime hours offered to them. Many have been replaced with contract workers.
Protest against sexual harrassment results in layoffs
In September 2013, a female worker was fired after fighting back against sexual harassment. The intimidation had started immediately after she began working in the Richa Global factory in Gurgaon, which was producing for Lidl. After seven months of sexual harassment and intimidation at the factory by her supervisor and a quality checker, the female worker fought back and hit both of them with her slippers. When other workers protested against her dismissal, 87 of them were fired too.
Death threat and harassment of union leaders
There have been serious violations of the freedom to associate in a union at the Shahi Export factory in Karnataka, Southern India.
Worst Wage theft Karnataka
Kidnapped Union Leader Released
Take action now to condemn the kidnapping of a trade union leader at a Marks & Spencer supplier factory in India. The union leader was abducted on August 25 by a gang at the factory grounds where he works. The kidnapping was part of a brutal attack against 60 workers, mostly women. It took place as they arrived for work at the Viva Global factory in Gurgaon, India.
Viva Global workers reach agreement
42 workers from the Viva Global factory in Gurgaon, India have returned to work over six months after they were locked out following a violent attack on union members.
Viva Global: negotiations break down after violence erupts again.
Ongoing talks between the former M&S supplier, Viva Global and the Garment and Allied Workers Union have broken down after five union members employed at the factory were attacked with a cane and a knife by a security guard employed by the company.
Stop Wage Theft Campaign
Many people can sympathize with the Robin Hood ‘stealing from the rich to give to the poor’ ideology, but in Haryana, India, the opposite is happening. Mazdoor Ekta Manch is seeking your support for their Stop Wage Theft campaign. Please sign their petition.
Indian Garment industry to receive human rights trial
Local trade unionists condemn GAP for refusing to attend.
India: Human Rights trial hears fashion worker woes
Garment workers alongside international brands and government representatives gave evidence at a tribunal which started in Bangalore this week to assess claims of systematic human rights abuses in the Indian garment industry. 250 garment workers from Bangalore, Gurgaon and Tirupur attended the tribunal, foregoing their daily wage and attendance bonus, to share testimonies of rights abuses and exploitation at the hands of western brands, surveyed by a panel of international judges.
Human Rights Trial on Garment Industry Concludes
The National Peoples’ Tribunal for living wages and decent working conditions of garment workers continued today at Kannada Sahitya Parishad, with much rigour and conviction with the participation of experts, union leaders, brand representatives and workers.
New report: false promises and restriction of movement in production for Western garment brands
Female migrants employed in India’s garment factories supplying to big international brands like Benetton, C&A, GAP, H&M, Levi’s, M&S and PVH, are subject to conditions of modern slavery. In Bangalore, India’s biggest garment producing hub, young women are recruited with false promises about wages and benefits, they work in garment factories under high-pressure for low wages. Their living conditions in hostels are poor and their freedom of movement is severely restricted. Claiming to be eighteen at least, many workers look much younger.
Fatal Indian factory fire sheds light on pervasive workplace violations
Yesterday, over 40 people died in a factory fire in Delhi, India. The manifestly unsafe factory highlights the urgent need for enforcement of fire and building safety regulations and credible safety monitoring in India. While initial compensation measures have already been announced, more is needed to ensure adequate fair and full compensation to the affected workers and their families.
New safety initiative launched in India today ignores vital lessons from the past
A building safety initiative launching in India today, aimed at improving safety for workers in the country’s garment industry, is set on a path to ignore workers’ voices and replicate mistakes from the past. Although the “Life and Building Safety Initiative” professes to learn from the programme that made factories safe in Bangladesh after the Rana Plaza building collapse, it ignores its most vital elements.
COVID-19 continues to ravage the health and livelihoods of garment workers
The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow and spread. Half of the world’s population is under some form of lock-down or movement restriction in order to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. Garment workers in global supply chains, who already grapple with poverty wages and precarious living situations, face increasing insecurity as factories close in response to steep drops in orders and as governments shut down manufacturing to protect public health.
Deadly Indian factory fire again shows need for preventive safety measures and justice for workers
A fire in the two-story Nandan Denim factory in the Indian city of Ahmedabad a week ago on Saturday night killed at least seven workers. According to media reports, the high death toll was caused by severe safety defects in the factory. This fire thereby painfully shows the need for concerted preventive safety measures throughout India’s garment industry.
Brands and governments must step up in face of India’s Covid crisis
In the face of the current wave of Covid-19 infections hitting garment producing countries in South Asia, the organisations of the Clean Clothes Campaign network are calling upon apparel companies to take action to mitigate the pandemic’s devastating effect on workers. Furthermore, they urge governments to do all in their power to keep workers safe.
CCC network statement in response to Natchi Apparels case
Gender-based violence and harassment, including sexual harassment in the world of work, are among the most pervasive human rights violations. The recent report of the rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit garment worker at Natchi Apparels by her male supervisor, in Tamil Nadu exemplifies this fact.
Taking Liberties - Systematic Exploitation in Indian Garment Hub
This report from December 2010 by the UK-based organisations Labour Behind the Label and War on Want details the extremely poor working conditions in Gurgaon, India, one of the main centers of garments production in Asia. Labour Behind the Label is name of the British CCC.