In a report titled ‘Spinning Around Workers’ Rights, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and Arisa, an independent human rights organization, have accused Tamil Nadu spinning mills of encouraging forced labor in factories. The report surveyed 725 workers, including 284 women, in 29 spinning mills between October 2019 and January 2020. It also conducted additional research into sourcing relations and trade flows, using trade databases and publicly available supplier base information. Around 15 of workers were interviewed in October last year to understand the impact of COVID-19.

The report used 11 indicators developed by the International Labor Organization (ILO) to assess the working and living conditions of workers in these spinning mills. It found majority of workers had been given wrong information about their prospective jobs during the interview process. They were also receiving reduced pay cheques against what was confirmed during recruitment. The report claims to help enable structural improvements to employment, working, and living conditions for workers in the Indian textile and garment industry.

However, Siddhartha Rajagopal, Executive Director, Texprocil and K Selvaraju, Secretary General, SIMA, accuse the report of generalizing incidents. They plan to conduct awareness camps on the new labor codes, take up a third party audit at the mills on labor compliance and educate the mills on labor compliances.