"Women’s Union Demands Binding Agreement from H&M After Supplier Sends Mob and Threatens Family of Murdered Garment Worker in India", 1 February 2021

Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU) calls on garment brands to negotiate a binding agreement to end systemic gender-based violence, with plans to organize a global vigil to demand accountability from the top of the supply chain.

Over the weekend, Eastman Exports Global, one of the largest garment manufacturing companies in India that supplies to brands like H&M, Gap and PVH, sent a mob of 50 men to threaten and coerce the family of Jayasre Kathiravel, a 20-year old H&M garment worker who was murdered by her supervisor in early January after months of ongoing sexual harassment in the factory where she worked...

Thivya Rakini, State President of TTCU says, “The companies involved have put Jeyasre’s family and our leaders in further danger by their inaction. Our union and women workers are doing our part to report on the dire situation in Eastman Exports despite serious risk to our security and livelihood. It is time for H&M and other brands to do their part.”

TTCU continues to demand a sit down with H&M and other brands and Eastman Exports Global, who have failed to protect women workers, to negotiate an enforceable agreement that covers monitoring, remediation and prevention of gender-based violence and barriers to freedom of association in Eastman Apparel. This agreement should also include mutually agreed terms for an independent investigation, as well as ensure fair compensation and a fair process of negotiation with the family, and the protection of witnesses and victims who are being threatened into silence...