Leone: Today we are going to meet Ms. Sujata Modi. Hello Madam. You are running a union for garment workers. Please say about it. Sujata: 10 years back we started Garments and Fashion workers union. We wanted to meet these garment workers. but they were always busy either doing the garment work or by sleeping. We were nit able to meet them even if we go to their village. Many times i have visited them. When I go to their home, they will be sleeping, we will wake them and talk to them. That was the situation. we were following for some time. During 2007 we took a big decision. Till now we worked among Unorganised workers but workers who are working in the factory are facing many problems. During 2007 when Nokia was started we gave a bit notice saying know your rights. This notice reached almost 10 to 15 thousand workers. This notice one of the worker of MEPZ's celebrity fashion company, Her name was Vijaylakshmi and she was working as an operator. With that notice, she called our number. That was a great surprise, i didn't expect it. Vijaylakshmi joined with me to start a Garment workers union and now we have reached this level. Leone: That's great Mam. How many members do you have in this garment union? Sujata: We have less members in the garment union. We have almost 2000 members. But the work we have done for them has reached across Tamilnadu. During 2014 the Govt has introduced a wage report. Their wage reached from 3500 to 7000. We have less members but we took full effort to implement this. As per 2014's report, the Govt cancelled the petition of those 600 companies and told them to give this wage. I didn't do this for my members but i did it for entire women. I thought they should get extra money and lead a respected life and they also should have rights in their hand. Leone: Wonderful mam. Interview with Sujata mam will continue in next episodes.
