Family and colleagues at the factory claim she was too afraid to report harassment they say she faced from her supervisor in the weeks before she died. Since the killing, 25 women have made allegations to the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU) of sexual assault, harassment and verbal abuse by male supervisors and managers at Natchi Apparels, owned by one of India’s largest garment manufacturers, Eastman Exports.
Workers at Natchi Apparels making clothes for H&M and other brands, who spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, claimed that female workers faced persistent sexual violence and verbal abuse in the workplace. They described a working environment in which male supervisors wielded “total power” over the women beneath them. One said that “even married women are not safe. It is just that [abuse] and production targets. We are nothing more to the factory.” Another said sexual violence had been going on for years. “It happens a lot on the night shift.”
The women said high production targets and a culture of verbal abuse as a means to make staff work faster had led to sexual harassment and assault becoming “normal”. The workers said they had to make about 1,000 items of clothing every day and that the pressure to meet targets was relentless.
“All the supervisors at the factory are men. Every day we are constantly verbally abused and they use sexual language and slurs against us,” said one. “This kind of behaviour is just part of the job. Everybody knows it. It is just part of factory life.”
Female workers also spoke of their fear of losing their jobs if they complained about conditions at the factory. Many of the women interviewed said they were the main breadwinners of the family, often supporting multiple children and relatives. “If your supervisor says you must do something, you have to do it. But what can we do? There is no other work but the factory,” said one.
Natchi Apparels, has denied all allegations and said that the factory had robust mechanisms for the reporting of any grievances or harassment. As required by Indian law, it has an internal complaints commission in place at the factory to deal with claims of sexual harassment, as well as a grievance redressal committee and a workforce representatives committee. One woman claimed workers were either unaware or too scared to use the factory’s grievance reporting mechanisms. Testimonies and audio recorded by unions describe similar allegations of sexual and verbal abuse, and a culture of fear that prevented women from officially reporting incidents.
One worker said: “When we try to complain about inappropriate behaviour from our supervisors, the [senior] management also tells us this is how working conditions are in a garment factory and that our role is only to ‘come to the factory, finish our work, take our salary and leave’. Since our complaints are never taken seriously by the higher management, we remain silent about all the issues we are facing.”
Another said, “We leave our homes to come and work in the company and trust the company to provide a safe place – but instead all we face is harassment.”
In 2018, a report by Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) uncovered multiple cases of gender-based violence across H&M’s supply chains. The report concluded that current mechanisms put in place by H&M and other brands were not protecting garment workers from harassment.
“Gender-based violence and harassment is not unique to this one supplier or brand,” said Jennifer Rosenbaume, executive director at GLJ-ILRF. “What is clear from the facts emerging as women workers at Natchi Apparels continue to come forward is that supplier-led training and grievance programmes are not enough without deep shifts in workplace patterns of power including enforceability by workers and their organisations.”
Women at Natchi Apparels also made a series of allegations about wider working conditions at the factory. According to payslips seen by the Guardian, they are paid about £80 a month. “We have to hit targets and if we don’t we have to keep working until the order is done,” said one worker. Others said they were not allowed to access drinking water or use the toilet except on a 15-minute lunch break.
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