We are workers at Avery Dennison India Pvt. Ltd in, and also members of Garment and Textile workers Union (GATWU) Bangalore, India, and we are now on a hunger strike to protest the inhumane behavior of our management, and also violation of various Indian labour laws!! It's a multimillion dollar operation which produces products for brand giants such as H&M, Adidas, Zara, Levi's, Gap, Marks & Spencer, Nike, and many others.

For many years, Avery Dennison has been paying us differing wages for the same amount of work, through subcontracting out some of us but not others. They have used this as an excuse to pay UNDER the already-low minimum wage for the work we do! Several of our colleagues have been forced to work back-to-back short-term contracts for the same amount of work, with no stoppage, just like permanent employees, but with none of the benefits, some for over 10 years. This is completely unacceptable; we have the right to provide for our families just like any other worker. When we see the CEOs and owners of some of these firms making the list of richest billionaires in the world, we know that it is our labor that creates their profits, yet our factory refuses to respect our basic rights or the rule of law.

This is why we decided to form a union. With the support of Garment and Textile Workers' Union, we organized to tell our employer that we deserve our basic rights. The employer, instead of respectfully negotiating with us, decided to retaliate. They illegally dismissed 44 of our colleagues for daring to stand up for our rights and to scare us into submission. But we will not be intimidated! We are now on our 5th day of our hunger strike to demand that they:

• Reinstate ALL terminated workers
• Make contract workers permanent
• Provide equal pay for equal work
• Stop worker discrimination
• Stop union busting!

Join us to demand that Avery Dennison, and the brands that work with them, do the right thing! 

Signed, 

Avery Dennison Pvt. Ltd. Workers

Bangalore, India