Primark: recognise this women-led union!

Adidas workers around the world protesting

Workers at the SAPL unit 1 garment factory in India have been joining and organising with the Garment Labour Union (GLU) for 8 years. GLU is a democratic, independent trade union set up and led by women garment workers. 

Email the CEO of Primark to let them know they must act to ensure freedom of association for their workers. 

GLU have fulfilled every legal requirement and have requested recognition from the SAPL management many times. Yet the factory bosses still refuse their rightful request, while brands like Primark who source from the factory fail to act on their stated commitments to trade union freedoms and women’s rights. 

Is this female empowerment, Primark? Is this your commitment to freedom of association? 

It’s not good enough! 

We demand that Primark immediately ensure their supplier recognises the workers’ chosen women-led union GLU in order to put an end to union-busting and intimidation, and improve conditions for all workers.  

Send a letter to Primark’s CEO today to stand with the workers of SAPL who make clothes for Primark! 

““GLU is a women-led trade union formed by garment workers ourselves in 2012. We have been organizing in SAPL unit-1 for 8 years, since 2016. Although women make up 85% of the workforce in the garment industry, it seems Management and Brands are shamefully not ready to formally recognize a women-led trade union.”

Rukmini, GLU co-founder and current president

Primark, recognise this women-led union!

Dear Paul Marchant

I am writing to express my deep concern and disappointment that Primark is failing in its commitments to freedom of association and collective bargaining rights for workers making clothes for Primark in SAPL factory unit 1 in India.

For 8 years workers at SAPL unit 1 have been organising as members of the Garment Labour Union (GLU). GLU is a democratic, independent trade union set up and led by women garment workers. GLU has been doing the work – patiently organising and building relationships with SAPL management – for nearly a decade, despite union-busting and intimidation.

GLU has fulfilled and continues to fulfil all the requirements under local labour law to gain formal recognition in the factory, which is at the discretion of management. And yet time and time again your supplier refuses the union’s rightful recognition request.

In your own mission statements you claim to care – not just for customers like me but also for the people who make your clothes. You say that you uphold freedom of association - a basic human right. And yet at SAPL unit 1 where GLU has jumped through all legal hoops for nearly a decade, and where there is nothing to stop your supplier recognising this women-led union, Primark is still failing to take decisive action to end union-busting and protect workers’ rights through recognition. International labour law is crystal clear: recognition of and collective bargaining with independent, democratic trade unions like GLU is the best way to prevent all labour rights abuses and improve conditions in your supply chain.

If Primark wants to show it cares, it must urgently apply every effort to ensure SAPL management sign a long-overdue recognition agreement with GLU. Failure to do so makes a mockery of your own published commitments to freedom of association, collective bargaining, and women’s rights.

Best regards,

%%your signature%%


713 signatures