New York City’s pension funds, with significant investments in major sugar-reliant companies, are calling for improved labor practices in India's Maharashtra cane fields amidst reports of severe worker exploitation, including child labor and debt bondage.
Wall Street's Role in Improving Labor Conditions in India's Sugar Industry
Wall Street's Role in Improving Labor Conditions in India's Sugar Industry
Investors and pension funds are urging major sugar buyers to address human rights abuses in India's cane fields as scrutiny intensifies.
The New York City comptroller, overseeing substantial pension investments, is taking a stand against the ongoing labor abuses in India’s formidable sugarcane fields. Scrutiny has grown around companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsico, which source sugar from Maharashtra, where a New York Times investigation has laid bare a prevailing culture of brutal working conditions encompassing child labor and coerced medical procedures.
Brad Lander, the New York comptroller, is determined to exert pressure on these corporations to cease profiting from an exploitative labor system. With the city’s pension funds attached to nearly $1 billion worth of stock in these companies, Lander emphasizes the responsibility of institutional investors to advocate for ethical practices. “We will bring pressure to bear on the companies we invest in who participate in that system by sourcing their supply from it and by funding it,” he asserted in a recent interview.
For several months, efforts have been underway in collaboration with Indian labor advocates and a coalition of investors to persuade publicly-traded sugar buyers to reconsider their supply-chain policies. Lander has garnered support from major investment firms like BNP Paribas Asset Management and Schroders, which share a collective stake in the movement towards reform.
The Biden administration has also joined this initiative, urging American buyers to leverage their market influence to incite change at the sugar mills. A State Department official noted that discussions around enhanced collaboration with labor unions were underway, indicating a broader push to elevate the plight of workers in Maharashtra.
As the pressure mounts from both investors and government entities, there is hope for the sugarcane workers of India, who have long endured some of the direst labor conditions in the world. Through concerted efforts and advocacy, the landscape of labor practices in this critical sector may soon witness positive transformation.
