591 poisoned. 57 dead. And the mercury's still in the ground.
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 06 April 2016 07:45
- Written by editor
We won! After 15 years, Unilever just agreed to compensate thousands of workers poisoned with mercury at a thermometer factory in India.
But Unilever is refusing to clean up the toxic contamination that devastated the community in the first place. Can you join with Deepa Gupta and demand Unilever act now?
A,
For 15 years, Unilever ignored workers exposed to deadly mercury at its factory in Kodaikanal, India. After almost 70,000 SumOfUs supporters joined a powerful Indian campaign for justice, we won!
Because of the pressure, Unilever just agreed to compensate the poisoned workers. Now, families can finally pay overdue medical bills and start to rebuild their lives. It's a huge victory. But CEO Paul Polman still hasn't committed to clean up the mercury that caused these people to get sick.
Will you stand with Deepa Gupta once again, and sign her petition to demand that Unilever cleans up its mercury contamination once and for all?
Yes, I'll gladly sign the petition and demand Unilever cleans up its mess.
Hindustan Unilever (HUL) owns the mercury thermometer factory in South India that it was forced to shut down in 2001. Many workers weren’t provided with adequate protective gear, and were exposed to toxic levels of mercury -- causing devastating health impacts. In total, 591 workers were poisoned and 45 workers and 12 children died. All needlessly.
For years, Unilever did nothing. But then local activists, with the help of Indian rapper Sofia Ashraf, put out an amazing video to the tune of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” demanding Unilever “make amends now” to its poisoned workers (Nicki loved it, by the way!). It got CEO Polman’s attention -- and the company settled with workers.
This is our first major victory since launching SumOfUs' community petition platform, where anyone can start their own campaign. Almost 70,000 SumOfUs supporters joined this campaign. But the win was only made possible by an incredible grassroots campaign by Indian workers.
Now, we have a major opportunity to make sure Unilever stops dragging its feet on cleaning up the mercury still poisoning the Indian town of Kodaikanal. Unilever thinks it is okay to leave 25 times more mercury in the ground than would be allowed in the U.K. -- where Unilever’s global headquarters are based! That’s why we’re standing with our community members pushing this campaign, and demanding that Unilever clean up to international standards.
Will you join the campaign, and demand that Unilever cleans up its mercury mess?
Yes, I'll gladly sign the petition
Thanks for all you do,
Paul, Angus, and the rest of the SumOfUs team
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More information:
After 15 Years Of Struggle, Hindustan Unilever Is Compensating Kodaikanal's Afflicted Workers, HuffPo India, Mar 9, 2016
How the Kodaikanal Won’t video went viral, The Hindu, August 5, 2015
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