Welcome to Indian Sugar Industry Workers Association :: Fighting Exploitation in the Sugar Industry
Welcome to Indian Sugar Industry Workers Association :: Fighting Exploitation in the Sugar Industry
Bringing together sugarcane harvesters, trade unions, and industry workers from mills, transport, bottling, and warehouses, we are building a powerful coalition to transform the sugar industry. Because real justice isn’t won alone—it’s forged in solidarity.
Indian Sugar Industry Workers Association
We take inspiration from the US-based Fair Food Program, or FFP, which was launched in 2010 by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, has successfully addressed issues of exploitation, forced labor, and sexual assault in the US agriculture industry. The FFP has received widespread recognition for its groundbreaking Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) model, a new paradigm for enforcing human rights in global supply chains based on binding legal agreements between worker organizations and the corporate brands at the top of global markets that set humane standards for workers in their suppliers’ operations.
Indian Sugar Industry Workers Association
Participating Growers and Buyers agree to implement the worker-informed “Code of Conduct,” which outlines all the protections for farmworkers in the program, as well as the Fair Food Premium.
The Fair Food Program Premium (FFPP) is passed down along the supply chain – from the retail level to the grower level – and ultimately is added as a bonus to workers’ paychecks as part of the grower’s regular payroll process. The FFPP bonus is clearly marked as a separate line item on the worker’s paystub.
The “Code of Conduct” covers all the protections for farmworkers in the Program – from wages and hours, to freedom from retaliation, to health and safety protections. In 2020 and 2021, the protections were expanded to include prevention and response protocols for COVID-19 and heat stress illness.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the award-winning, internationally-recognized farmworker human rights organization that founded the Fair Food Program, conducts worker-to-worker education sessions at all Participating Growers’ farms throughout the season. The curriculum is developed and delivered by CIW farmworker staff. All workers also receive an FFP Know Your Rights and Responsibilities booklet and video training at the time of hire as a part of their overall orientation.
Fair wages. Dignified work. A food system built on justice.
Justice for Sugarcane Workers Now!
W S R
The Worker-Driven Social Responsibility model puts workers at the forefront of enforcing labor rights,
replacing ineffective
corporate oversight with legally binding agreements that hold brands accountable.
Proven across industries worldwide, WSR ensures real protections against exploitation.
ISWA is pioneering Asia’s first WSR model in India’s sugar industry, empowering
sugarcane workers as frontline monitors of their rights and driving systemic
change in global supply chains.
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Come together for Justice
Politicians run most of the mills in the state of Maharashtra. They deny or downplay evidence of coerced hysterectomies, debt bondage and child labor in the fields.
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Western companies such as Coca-Cola buy sugar from fields where workers suffer abuses. But the country has labor laws. Where was the government?
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Why would anyone stay in a job where abuse is rampant and women are coerced into hysterectomies? Because the cost of escaping India’s cane fields is often even higher.
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Pension funds and big investors are pressuring Coca-Cola, Pepsico and others over brutal working conditions in India’s cane fields. Some of the sugar buyers are tiptoeing toward change.
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Move raises hackles among industry stakeholders, who say it doesn’t capture the true picture and is based on incomplete information
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A spokesperson for the US Embassy said it will continue to engage with the state government and industry representatives for policy and practical changes to benefit workers..
Read MoreISWA
ISWA is committed to combating exploitation, ending forced and child labour, and addressing broader human rights violations within India’s multi-billion-dollar sugar industry. The organization advocates for the promotion of decent work standards, including the right to freedom of association, collective bargaining, and comprehensive social protection for over 2 million sugarcane workers in these states. These rights are enshrined in the Indian Constitution and aligned with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, as reinforced through global conventions.
No Worker Left Behind—Dignity, Safety, and Fair Wages for All!
