Finnwatch research shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the Stora Enso Chennai packaging factory Stora Enso Inpac’s work conditions. The most significant problems concern remuneration and occupational safety.

The factory employee’s salaries are not always sufficient for living and part of the employees live in primitive conditions.

Stora Enso Inpac pays a salary insufficient for living to the employees working in the lowest salary grades. The employees in the lowest category receive only 5 500 rupees, around 60 euros monthly salary.

– It is difficult to survive on the salary. Many of the employees are living in primitive conditions without sufficient sanitation, says Finnwatch Executive Director Sonja Vartiala.

Occupational safety needs to be improved as well. At the moment of research, employees were working in up to 35 degrees temperature.

The interviewed employees complained about the strong chemical smell and were not aware of the factory occupational safety committee provided for by the law. The research also discovered other problems.

– Conditions of employment of the temporary employees are violating human resources guidelines of the company. The official guidelines limit trade union activity and oblige employees to work overtime, Vartiala states.

No active measures have been taken at the factory to improve the situation of women and Dalit people subject to caste discrimination. Finnwatch reminds that these human rights problems are typical for India.

Stora Enso says it is invests into respect of human rights in all its activities. The purpose the company has set for itself is to “act for the good of people and the planet”. The biggest shareholder of Stora Ens is the Finnish government.

In order for Stora Enso’s promises to meet the reality, we are expecting it to take more active measures to improve the rights of the workers, says Vartiala.

The research, ordered from Finnwatch by the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland SASK, made positive finds as well. According to the report, many improvements respecting employee rights have been introduced at the Stora Enso factory.
The company has succeeded in decreasing the amount of occupational accidents and recognized the trade union at the factory. Stora Enso has introduced several measures for improvement as a result of our report.

Finnwatch thanks Stora Enso for its openness during the investigation, while criticizing the company for not mentioning the challenges of the Indian factory in the company’s social corporate responsibility reports.

Actions are required from Finnish decision-makers as well.

Companies need to be obliged to execute ambitious evaluations of human rights risks whenever they are working in risk countries. Human rights issues need to be corrected efficiently even before they are brought to the public by watchdogs.

Additional information:
Sonja Vartiala 
Executive director
Finnwatch ry 
+ 358 44 568 7465
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Report published at the event has been made with the support of the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland SASK and in cooperation with Swedwatch. The Swedwatch English report on Stora Enso Inpact can be found on website www.swedwatch.org. Stora Enso letter to the stakeholders relating to the Finnwatch report  

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