Tom Heinemann / Denmark / 2006 / 56 min.
The cotton ends in the acid baths in a number of primitive factories outside the famous tourist
hub, Jaipur in the state of Rajesthan.
In the industrial town of Panipat – some 100 km north of New Delhi - large Swedish, Danish and European supermarkets are supplying the European customers with cheap home furnishing textiles as sofa covers, towels and bathroom rugs.
The workers are underpaid, migrant dalit´s from some of India poorest states like West Bengal and Bihar. At the factories there are no unions, the daily work can be as many as 24 hours a day – seven days a week.
The workers are mostly un-protected and chemicals are stored illegally. One of the factories appearing in the documentary does not even have an official permit from the Indian authorities to run. At the factory some 40-50-child workers are working on a regular basis.
Workers also claims that they are being beaten at the factory
Companies like JYSK (DK), Dansk Supermarket Group (DK) and ICA (S) are among the customers. The sales manager of the factory also claims that European companies like Kesko (FIN), Ahold (NL), Morison’s (GB) and Superquinn (IR) are among the regular buyers visiting the factory.
On their websites the consumers can read, that many of the above mentioned companies has a high ethical profile, where the consumers are assured that all textiles/materials manufactured for the companies are done in an ethical, environmental and social right way.
Disguised like potential buyers from a fictive chain of shops, the film crew reveals some of the harsh conditions at the factories and documents how the production in fact is being done.
Screenings
Category
Production Company
Lynx Media & Heinemann Media
Guldberggsgade 29A
2200 N
Denmark
tel: +45 33 18 44 66
aj@apressen.dk