With the support of Dutch Agreement on Sustainable Garments and Textile, various garment factories are launching a collective project ‘Factory support programme: continuous improvement of labour conditions in Tamil Nadu’.
The project, which will run for 3 years, is aimed at improving working conditions in the factories like tackling various social themes, discrimination & gender, child labour, forced labour, freedom of association, living wage and health & safety in the workplace.
The project has seven signatories of the Dutch Agreement on Sustainable Garments and Textile working with their suppliers, Arisa, Mondiaal FNV and local NGO SAVE, Euretco, Fabienne Chapot, HEMA, O’Neill, Prénatal, The Sting and WE Fashion.
The Dutch Fund for Responsible Business (FVO) will help to finance the initiative.
The project focuses on improving the participating companies’ business processes and on supporting the local workforce. The project partners will map the supply chain beyond the locations where garments are assembled, get to work improving purchasing and other practices, and draw up policies emphasising international responsible business conduct.
It will support suppliers in establishing effective worker-management consultative committees. The committees should then be able to address complaints and develop measures to avoid potential risks in factories.
The project will also improve workers’ knowledge of labour law so that they can defend their rights more vigorously. A training programme has been developed for committees in 75 factories and textile mills.
In addition, residents in 35 hostels, most of them workers, will also receive training.
The companies, who are part of this agreement work with a due diligence management system that involves continuous risk analyses and prioritisation of the most serious risks.
These companies have decided that they wish to work actively to improve working and living conditions in the Tamil Nadu. They are also exploring opportunities for cooperation with other initiatives in the region so as to avoid overlap and to increase the impact on workers’ living and working conditions through joint action.
