‘Workers held captive in Indian mills supplying Hugo Boss’. By Peter Bengtsen
Luxury fashion
retailer Hugo Boss said it has found cases of forced labour, a form of modern
slavery, in its supply chain. Young female workers have been held captive
behind the walls of garment factories in southern India and prevented
from leaving the premises at any time. Hugo Boss, which
raised concerns about the free movement of resident mill workers in its 2016
sustainability report, said it has been working to resolve the issue with
local suppliers.
Following the report,
a Guardian investigation into the confinement of thousands of young migrant
workers on factory premises in Tamil Nadu found that Best Corporation, the
company used by Hugo Boss, also supplies garments to high-street brands
including Next and Mothercare. “Hugo Boss has been in
regular contact and intensive exchange with the body-wear supplier to work on
changes together and to achieve improvements in the mentioned areas,” the
company said in a statement.
Best Corporation is
not the only company in southern India where issues relating to worker
confinement exist. The policy of housing large numbers of young female migrant
workers in dormitories on factory premises is widespread in the region. Factory owners say the
policy is necessary to ensure worker safety in largely rural areas. But young
women are effectively imprisoned in their workplace and allowed minimal contact
with the outside world for up to four years.
A recent survey of 743
spinning mills across the region, carried out by the India Committee of the
Netherlands, a human rights organisation dedicated to improving the lives of
marginalised people in south Asia, found more than half of the mills were
illegally restricting the free movement of resident workers. “Mill owners usually defend themselves on the
pretext of protecting the girls from abuse far away from home, but locking
young women up for years at a time is not the answer,” said Gerard Oonk, the
organisation’s director.
The Guardian found
evidence of worker confinement at premises belonging to Sulochana cotton mills,
which supplies Primark, and Sri Shanmugavel mills, which feed into Primark and
Debenhams’ supply chains. On visits to spinning
mills located in rural areas around Tirupur, Palladam and Dindigul in Tamil
Nadu, the Guardian spoke to workers who confirmed that young female workers
were not allowed to leave the factory of their own free will at any time,
except on rare trips to local markets accompanied by factory security.
One young woman who
works at a Best Corporation mill spoke to the Guardian while her factory
chaperone was distracted. “We are not allowed to leave the factory without
wardens or whenever we want to. I work, when I am told to. I don’t complain. My
family needs the money for my wedding dowry,” she said. According to multiple
interviews with workers in factories belonging to Sri Shanmugavel mills, young
women living at the factories are either not allowed mobile phones, or have
their calls monitored by factory supervisors… read more:
