5 months ago
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Hundreds of women workers astatine an apparel mill sat connected the roadworthy successful the concern country of Nacharam successful Hyderabad connected Thursday, demanding higher wages. The mill manufactures apparel for large planetary brands specified arsenic H&M, JCPenney, C&A, Levi’s, among others.
“This is our 4th time of protest. We began the onslaught connected Monday greeting erstwhile we refused to instrumentality to enactment and started the protestation adjacent the gate. Some of america spell home, but we volition beryllium backmost time until our demands are met,” said Padma, who has been moving astatine Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd. for 13 years. The protestation continued precocious into the night.
Reading a statement connected a Levi’s denim jacket, Parvathy, a idiosyncratic of 12 years, said she whitethorn person stitched it. “We person stitched labels of JCPenney, H&M, C&A, Levi’s. None of the apparel we stitch are sold successful our country. They are costly and exported from here,” she said. A Tailor Grade II earns ₹11,281, with an further ₹900 attendance bonus for not missing a time of enactment successful a month.
Braving the biting acold astatine nighttime and the harsh wintertime prima during the day, the women sat successful tiny groups connected the roadworthy and on the roadside, with a fewer placards pinned to the mill walls. They are demanding a wage summation to ₹15,000, citing rising inflation. “We don’t person a leader. We person been making this request for immoderate time, but officials garbage to agree,” said different worker.
A handwritten placard successful Telugu read: “Maa jeetam enta, nuvvu maku ichey jeetam enta. Endalo memu, AC lo nuvvu. Kashtam maadi, phalitam meeda. Maaku nyayam jargali.” (“How overmuch is our wage and however overmuch bash you springiness us? We basal successful the prima portion you beryllium successful AC rooms. The labour is ours; the reward is yours. We privation justice.”) The placard credits the slogan to Shahi Exports Ltd. Employees.
Shahi Exports has aggregate export-oriented manufacturing units including successful Odisha, Haryana and Karnataka. “The lone 1 with revenues successful the bid of a cardinal dollars. Its customers see much-vaunted covering brands specified arsenic Walmart, Gap Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch, PVH, Uniqlo, H&M, and Nike. Today, Shahi has implicit 96,000+ full-time employees, ~70% of whom are women, with implicit 50 cut-to-pack accumulation factories and 3 processing mills crossed 8 states successful India,” says a probe papers brought retired by Foundation for Economic Development successful April 2025. I FED is simply a Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation.
“There has been nary trouble. The women are sitting determination and protesting. They are not stopping those who privation to participate the factory. It has been peaceful,” said a information unit astatine the entranceway of the factory.
The Hindu has sent a media query to Shahi Exports Pvt Ltd and the communicative volition beryllium updated arsenic and erstwhile determination is simply a response.
