The Dutch Report Alleges That There Is "Forced Labor" In India'S Textile Industry

Tesco, a British retail company, has found abusive labor in the clothing industry's supply chain in southern India after receiving evidence that "forced labor" is prevalent among immigrant women at cotton mills in Tamil Nadu, the Guardian reported.

The UK's largest supermarket chain said one of the supply chains was linked to a spinning mill mentioned in a new report by two NGOs. According to the report released by the Dutch organization the center for transnational corporation research (SOMO), multiple evidence of labor abuse has been found in the region, including cheating, intimidating and threatening vulnerable women workers, poor working and living conditions and excessive overtime.

A Tesco spokesman said: "we take the allegations of human rights violations in our supply chain very seriously... Although we are not direct customers of this factory, we recognize our responsibility to everyone in the supply chain and are working with other brands and working with NGOs to investigate and ensure improvements."

"We don't get enough sleep, we always have to work, and we often have to work two or even three shifts," a worker at one of the factories said in the report. It makes us feel tired and sleepy. But we are not allowed to rest. " Another worker said, "I spent most of my life with machines. There is no contact with the outside world. "

The report also said that hundreds of workers had no choice but to live in overcrowded and "unhygienic" dormitories, a few miles away from their families and without paid leave. Workers say their freedom is strictly restricted and that they have to stay in dormitories and be closely monitored when they are not working.

The report also said that Indian women workers said they felt unsafe and sexually harassed in factories and homes. They describe sexual comments that male managers, supervisors, dormitory workers and colleagues improperly touch and make, often under the cover of loud machine noise.

According to the report, the spinning mill in Tamil Nadu, which supplies raw materials for India's export clothing sector, has long been accused of human rights violations.

The authors of the report believe that the alleged abuse found in the 29 factories surveyed may have been found in other factories in the textile industry in Tamil Nadu. The report named international brands including next, Sainsbury's, gap and IKEA, claiming that they were directly or indirectly related to the factories under investigation.

Next said it believed six of the 29 factories mentioned in the report were related to their supply chain and would conduct an investigation. It also said it would take joint action with Tesco to try to stop widespread abuses across the region.

IKEA denied any links to the factories mentioned in the report, and a spokesman said: "the factories claimed to be connected to IKEA in the report are neither suppliers nor sub suppliers." As a result, IKEA does not have the right to enforce its code of conduct or conduct relevant investigations.

Gap, a clothing brand, denied that its supply chain was linked to any of the factories highlighted in the report. "We recognize that the labor and human rights issues in the fabric manufacturing sector in Tamil Nadu are systemic and we will continue to work with industry peers and expert organizations to address these issues," gap told the guardian

Sainsbury's said its suppliers came from the region but had no relationship with the factories mentioned in the report.

Siddhartha Rajagopal, executive director of the Indian Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council (texprocil), said in response that the survey method was "flawed" because the sample size was not representative. The report attempts to generalize. He added that the findings were groundless and motivated to discredit the Indian spinning industry and to tarnish the image of Indian suppliers in overseas markets.

K. selvaraju, Secretary General of the southern factories Association (SIMA), said the survey did not represent the entire spinning industry in Tamil Nadu. The industry has more than 2000 factories and employs nearly 700000 workers. The factories in the association are regularly supervised by several government departments. The survey did not provide details about factories or workers. There may be "misguided violations" in some smaller factories, but this does not represent the industry.