H&M pledges to end shopfloor sexual violence in India after worker killed
H&M has signed a legally binding agreement with one of its largest Indian clothing suppliers that pledges to end sexual violence and harassment against women on the factory floor after the murder of a young garment worker by her supervisor last year.
In January 2021, Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 20-year-old Dalit woman, was found dead on farmland near her family home after finishing a shift at Natchi Apparel, a factory making clothes for H&M in Kaithian Kottai, Tamil Nadu.
Her supervisor reportedly confessed to her murder and is awaiting trial. Her family also allege that she was raped before she was killed, and had suffered sexual harassment and intimidation at work in the months before her death, but felt powerless to prevent the abuse.
An independent investigation last year by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), which has not yet been made public, heard testimony from other female workers of widespread gender-based violence at Natchi Apparel, and H&M and Eastman Exports then began talks with the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU), as well as regional and international labour rights groups.
The legally binding agreement that resulted is only the second of its kind in the fashion industry, and the first time a brand has ever signed up to an initiative to tackle gender-based violence in Asia’s garment industry, where a workforce of mostly poor women make millions of tons of clothing for UK high streets every year.
Under the terms of the agreement, all workers, supervisors and executives will have to undergo gender-based violence training and the TTCU will recruit and train female workers as “shopfloor monitors” who will ensure women are protected from verbal harassment and sexual intimidation.
The agreement also
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