Coke, Pepsi profiting from system of labour that exploits women in Maharashtra sugarcane fields: Report

The working conditions for these sugar laborers is defined as forced labour by workers’ rights groups and the United Nations labor agency.

Coke and Pepsi have profited from a “brutal system of labor that exploits children and leads to the unnecessary sterilization of working-age women," according to a New York Times and Fuller Project investigation.

Regular and mini cans of Coke and Pepsi are pictured in this photo. Earlier in 2019, Coca-Cola’s consultants visited the fields and sugar mills and reported that children were cutting sugar cane. (Reuters)

The report claimed that girls are being pushed into child marriages so they can work with their husbands in sugarcane fields. Although the girls are not receiving wages from their employers but are instead paying off advances received for hysterectomies, the report added.

“Labor brokers loan money for the surgeries, even to resolve ailments as routine as heavy, painful periods. And the women — most of them uneducated — say they have little choice. Hysterectomies keep them working, undistracted by doctor visits or the hardship of menstruating in a field with no access to running water, toilets or shelter,” the report added.

What is the impact on women's health?

Removal of uterus has lasting impact on women's health- abdominal pain, blood clots, early menopause, heart disease, osteoporosis and other ailments, as per the report.

The working conditions for these sugar laborers is defined as forced labour by workers’ rights groups and the United Nations labor agency. The report also noted that contractors pay workers an advance before the season and declare them still in debt when it ends.

“I had to rush to work immediately after the operation, as we had taken an advance. We neglect our health in front of money," a worker told the New York Times.

What Coca Cola said on the report?

Earlier in 2019, Coca-Cola’s consultants visited the fields and sugar mills and reported that children were cutting sugar cane and laborers were working to repay their employers after which the company said in an unrelated corporate report that year that it was supporting a program to “gradually reduce child labor” in India. Although Coca Cola has not responded to the report.

What PepsiCo said on the report?

PepsiCo said in a statement as per the report, “The description of the working conditions of sugar-cane cutters in Maharashtra is deeply concerning. We will engage with our franchisee partners to conduct an assessment to understand the sugar-cane cutter working conditions and any actions that may need to be taken.”