Esther’s story
This is Esther’s story. Esther had hoped that her son Britto getting a job at Pond’s company would mean good days for the family. However, it was not to be. Britto developed health problems while working in the thermometer factory and never recovered. Eventually, both his kidneys failed and Britto died, leaving behind parents who […]
Evaluation of DPR by Dr. Mark Chernaik: Soil Remediation at Kodaikanal HUL Factory site, with offsite disposal of treated soils to Authorized TSDF
March 7 – Global day of action against Unilever
March 7, 2001, was the day that residents of Kodaikanal and environmental activists shut down a polluting mercury thermometer factory run by Hindustan Lever (a subsidiary of Anglodutch multinational Unilever). That day has since been observed as an anniversary to remind people of the continuing legacies of Unilever’s inaction in cleaning up its pollution in […]
More than 450 workers protest outside HUL head office – CNBC TV18
More than 450 workers and their families staged demonstrations outside Hindustan Unilever headquarters in Mumbai on Friday. This protest is called by Hindustan Unilever Employees Federation. The workers are from the Amli and Dapada factories. The workers are protesting on a whole host of issues including low wages. They claim that the wages received by […]
Unions Accuse HUL Of Discrimination – Bloomberg TV
The employees union of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever has hit out at the management. The union claims to have been victimized and discriminated against and is set to protest today, Priya Sheth shares a detailed report on the employees’ grievances.
HUL Workers Protest, Demand Higher Wages & Right To Unionize – ET Now
The country’s largest FMCG company Hindustan Unilever’s headquarters in Mumbai witnessed employee protests in huge numbers this morning. Around 450-500 workers from factories are protesting are protesting a whole host of issues with their families including low wages and demanding the right to unionize. They claim that the wages received by them are not on […]
Decade-long struggle in 16 minutes – Indian Express News
CHENNAI: The 10-year struggle and miseries faced by factory workers and their families, exposed to mercury in the Hindustan Unilever thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, was poignantly depicted in the documentary Mercury in the Mist. As the 16-minute film delved on the lives of the workers and the poisoned ecology of Kodaikanal, it also brought to […]
Poisoned – Pictures by Sudhanshu Malhotra
Waiting in vain for compensation – Expressbuzz
Ruby Martine (80) walks to the graveyard every Wednesday to offer flowers at the grave of her son Christopher Martine, who worked at the Hindustan Lever Limited’s (HLL) erstwhile mercury plant in Kodaikanal. Christopher died in 1997 due to kidney failure at the age of 33 and his mother claims this was due to his […]
Tamil Nadu’s “Bhopal in waiting” – Express News Service
MORE skeletons have tumbled out of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s (TNPCB) closet relating to its actions on the Kodaikanal mercury leak cleanup, this time in the form of false claims in its status note to the Union environment ministry and specifying cleanup standards that have not been scientifically validated. Following an alarm raised by […]
Kodaikanal Residents Fight Against Mercury Dumping
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Alliance against Mercury (TAAM), a coalition of Kodaikanal residents and organisations that is fighting against the mercury dumping in the hill station made a serious allegation at a press meet here on Monday. It charged the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) of colluding […]
Mercury exposure: panel to probe health condition of former factory workers – The Hindu
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has formed an experts’ committee to assess the health condition of former workers of Hindustan Lever’s Clinical Thermometer Factory at Kodaikanal allegedly exposed to toxic mercury. The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice K. Chandru, said the five-member committee would report to the court as to whether […]
Mercury Affected Children and Ex-workers From Kodaikanal Protest Outside the AGM of HLL
Mumbai, 18 May 2007: Ex Workers and their children from the Hindustan Lever (HLL) mercury thermometer factory in Kodaikanal along with their supporters in Mumbai today protested outside the venue of the Annual General Meting (AGM) of HLL demanding accountability form the company. Eleven ex-workers exposed to toxic mercury (representing about 500 affected workers) highlighted […]
Ex-Mercury workers protest death of their co-worker; demand HLL to accept liability
Kodaikanal/ Chennai: More than 500 residents, mostly ex-workers of a Hindustan Lever mercury thermometer factory in Kodaikanal staged a ‘salai marial’ (road blockade) at Moonjikal, Kodaikanal, today protesting the death of 47-year old P. Natarajan, an ex-worker of the factory. Ex-workers said numerous workers were exposed to toxic mercury because of unsafe working conditions and […]