INDIA: Female textile workers in Kerala stand over 10 hours daily and are denied use of the toilet

Dear Friends,

It has come to the AHRC’s attention that basic human rights are being neglected in Kerala’s textile shops. The women textile workers are forced to stand for over 10 hours per day and are not allowed to use the bathroom during their shifts.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Women working in Kerala’s textile stores are forced by management to stand during their 10+ hour shifts and are barely allowed to use the restroom. A complaint was sent to the National Human Rights Commission by Anima Muyarath , a lawyer and Project Fellow at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai. She has been studying human rights violations of women textile workers in Kerala and her complaint stated that many textile shops in Kerala do not have toilets for their employees. The shops that do have toilets, however, require permission from the manager before using them. Based on the complaint of Muyarath, the NHRC issued a notice on July 1, 2016 to the Government of Kerala through its Chief Secretary to the Department of Labour and the Labour Commissioner. It called for reports regarding the appalling working conditions of female workers at the textile retail shops in Kerala.

This is a grave situation of blatant human rights violations by the management of the textile retail shops. They abdicated their duties to provide safe working conditions for their employees. Standing for extended periods of time poses serious health risks for the staff and is an inhuman practice. According to one woman, most female employees at the store she works in suffer from severe knee pain and varicose veins. Long standing cases of varicose veins can lead to other problems such as ulceration, eczema and skin thickening. Some women are already showing signs of these complications.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In December 2013, five sales women went on strike, demanding the right to toilet breaks, to sit while working, and to receive the minimum wage (7,415rs per month). After three months, the management acquiesced to their demands. Despite this high-publicity strike, the changes appear to have been temporary-the store has reverted to its old ways. Most saleswomen work for Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per month. They are demanding that they be paid the minimum wage of Rs. 7145 according to the 2009 notification to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

In 2014, the Kerala government passed an ordinance amending the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishment Act of 1960. They did not extend its scope to protect the rights of workers in the non-organized labour segments.

The Asanghatitha Meghala Thozhilali Union (AMTU), a union of non-organized sector workers’ 
Union launched a campaign in March 2015 demanding the right of textile shop employees to sit down while working. In many shops the workers are reportedly not allowed to sit even when the customer flow is slow. As part of the campaign, this, along with other problems of long work hours and lack of benefits such as a Provident Fund, were brought up.

As per Article 2 of the Forced Labour Convention of the International Labour Organisation, which India has ratified,
“For the purposes of this Convention the term forced or compulsory labour shall mean all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”

The Kerala Textile workers are victims of forced labour, facing the threat of penalties as they are disallowed from enjoying their basic rights. India has ratified this convention, making its disregard a blatant violation of international law. In forcing the employees to work under such conditions, India is ignoring international standards and the Kerala government is allowing a situation of unsafe working conditions and human rights violations to continue.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please contact the relevant authorities calling upon them to take the necessary action against the management of the textile shops and ensure that the employees have access to bathroom facilities and safe working conditions and are being paid the minimum wage.

The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.

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