Tamil Nadu Mills Supplying Fashion Retailer Hugo Boss Holding Labour In Captivity

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Tamil Nadu Mills Supplying Fashion Retailer Hugo Boss Holding Labour In Captivity

Luxury fashion retailer Hugo Boss has stated that it has found cases of forced labour, a form of modern slavery, in its supply chain based in Tamil Nadu. 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 that it has been working to resolve the issue with local suppliers.

After the report was made public, an investigation by the UK-based newspaper, The Guardian, 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 weillegally restrict the free movement of resident workers.

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.

The Guardian visited spinning mills located in rural areas around Tirupur, Palladam and Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, and 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.

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 phone calls monitored by factory supervisors.

Local organisations said they are not allowed to check on the working or living conditions of young female workers housed at spinning mills and face intimidation and threats from factory owners.

Best Corporation acknowledged that it restricts workers’ freedom of movement outside the factory premises, because of the rural location of many of its factories. It said that it has taken steps to address worker grievances, including establishing a worker committee, inviting local NGOs to train supervisors on workers’ rights, and funding an independently run telephone helpline for workers.

However, neither Sri Shanmugavel nor Sulochana mills responded to The Guardian's requests for comment, while Next denied that problems of worker confinement existed in its supply chain.

Primark, which The Guardian has linked to Sulochana cotton spinning mills through export databases, refused to confirm or deny that the Best Corporation is part of its supply chain, but said the company accepted that it had a responsibility to improve employment conditions in Southern India.

Incidentally, Tamil Nadu’s spinning mills, which feed into India’s booming export garment sector, have long been the subject of allegations of serious labour abuses, including the practice of withholding wages from lower caste and Dalit workers for years at a time.