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Jeyasre Kathiravel, a Dalit garment worker at Natchi Apparels in Tamil Nadu, was found dead on 5 January 2021. Her death and workers’ accounts of earlier harassment helped galvanize a union-led campaign that led, in April 2022, to the Dindigul Agreement: an enforceable framework involving her employer Eastman Exports and H&M, a buyer from the factory. The agreement put worker organizations, grievance remedies and brand accountability at the center of efforts to address gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH).
What happened to Jeyasre Kathiravel?
Kathiravel worked at Natchi Apparels, an Eastman Exports factory in Tamil Nadu that supplied H&M. She was found dead on 5 January 2021. An AFWA and TTCU case summary records coworkers’ and friends’ accounts that she had experienced sexual harassment. Later reporting described her supervisor’s arrest and confession. These are attributed accounts and reporting; they should not be confused with a court finding about the allegations. The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) investigation, requested by worker groups and some brands, found pervasive gender-based violence and harassment at the factory and identified two other likely cases in which women workers’ violent deaths appeared connected to their employment.
How did the response become a worker-led campaign?
The campaign was driven by the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU), a women- and Dalit-led union, working with the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) and Global Labor Justice. Their demand went beyond a response to one death: workers needed systems they could use to report abuse, seek remedies and participate in preventing further harm.
The structure of the campaign mattered. A local union was involved in negotiating and implementing the response, rather than leaving accountability solely to a brand’s internal policies. Nandita Shivakumar, identified in January 2026 reporting as AFWA’s campaigns coordinator at the time, said the Dindigul agreement differed from an earlier Lesotho accord because it had “the strong presence of a local union.” The statement appears in a Business & Human Rights Resource Centre page reproducing Guardian reporting.
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What is the Dindigul Agreement?
Announced in April 2022, the agreement was signed by TTCU, AFWA, Global Labor Justice, Eastman Exports and H&M. It covers approximately 5,000 workers at Natchi Apparels and Eastman Spinning Mills, according to WRC. WRC describes it as binding and enforceable, with Eastman’s continued business conditioned on meeting its obligations. That link between commitments and commercial consequences was intended to make the protections more than voluntary guidance.
The agreement established a workplace program with several connected parts:
- Worker and supervisor training: to address gender-based violence and harassment and explain workplace rights.
- Shop-floor monitoring: worker monitors help identify concerns where they arise.
- Complaint handling and remedies: investigations and remediation, alongside stronger Internal Complaints Committees.
- Independent grievance access: a mechanism overseen by third-party experts gives workers another route to raise complaints.
- Broader protections: the agreement adopts concepts from ILO Convention 190, protects union rights, and prohibits discrimination based on caste and migration status.
The combination is significant: training and monitoring may help prevent abuse, while complaint channels and remedies address cases when prevention fails. Union rights and protections against retaliation and discrimination also affect whether workers can use those systems in practice.
What did the first-year figures show?
In a 2023 report, GLJ-ILRF, AFWA and TTCU said that 185 grievances were raised from April through December 2022. They reported that 177 grievances—96%—were raised by women, 98% of grievances were resolved, and all 23 reported GBVH cases were resolved. The report also said 90% of grievances were resolved within a week and that more than 30 union-management meetings were held to resolve grievances at the worksite.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteThe same organizations reported training 58 worker shop-floor monitors and providing training to more than 2,000 workers and management. They also reported a 16% increase in worker efficiency, a 4.3% increase in on-time attendance and a 67% reduction in attrition between 2021 and 2022. Those are outcomes reported by the organizations involved in the program, not independently verified causal estimates. The grievance and training figures likewise describe the report’s account of the program, rather than an independent audit. The organizations’ first-year report provides the figures and program account.
Did the agreement change the wider industry?
The agreement became a model that other brands and suppliers could adopt. WRC says Gap Inc. and PVH Corporation signed similar agreements later in 2022. Its overview also summarizes a later Cornell progress report as finding significant progress in eliminating, remediating and preventing gender-based violence and harassment. These developments indicate that the approach reached beyond the original signatories, but they do not establish that abuse ended across the industry.
For workers, an accountability agreement is stronger when commitments are enforceable, worker organizations have a meaningful role, grievance handling is accessible and independent, protections cover caste and migration status, and progress is reported publicly. A final test is whether brands maintain commercial support after signing: a paper commitment cannot substitute for sustained leverage and engagement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is known about the agreement’s later status?
January 2026 reporting says H&M was no longer sourcing garments from Natchi when it signed its supporting agreement. It also describes funding shared by brands and organizations and says the agreement concluded in October 2025 after a seven-month extension. This account comes through a Business & Human Rights Resource Centre page reproducing Guardian reporting. A primary close-out document confirming the agreement’s status after that reported conclusion is not established here, so those details should be treated as reported rather than as a verified account of its current operation.
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The case also highlights a commercial tension: an agreement can set enforceable obligations, but long-term worker protections depend on durable institutional arrangements and the parties’ support. The available reporting describes the agreement’s conclusion, but does not establish what protections or grievance mechanisms remain in operation afterward.
Why the story matters to shoppers and workers
H&M was one participant in a campaign led by a local union and labor-rights organizations, alongside the employer. That distinction matters: the response was not simply a company initiative, and the agreement’s significance lies in building worker-accessible mechanisms and tying supplier obligations to continued business.
For consumers, a brand’s policies or supply-chain statistics alone do not show whether a particular factory’s workers can safely report abuse or secure remedies. H&M reports that its supplier factories employed over 1.1 million workers in 2025, 59% of them women; those company-reported figures describe its supplier workforce overall, not Natchi or the outcome of the Dindigul Agreement. H&M’s gender-equality page describes its stated approach. The Dindigul case offers a more concrete accountability question: are workers organized, protected from discrimination, able to report grievances independently, and involved in resolving them?
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