India: shop staff win the right to sit down

One shop assistant in the state of Kerala says her pay was docked for leaning against a wall

India clothes shop
A woman waits to be served at a garment store in Mumbai 
(Image credit: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images)

Shop assistants in Kerala, in south-west India, have won the “right to sit” following a campaign drawing attention to harsh working conditions in the state’s textile stores.

In Kerala’s fabric stores, it has long been the custom that shop assistants - the vast majority of them female - are expected to stand upright at all times when behind the counter, spending entire days on their feet during busy periods, often without toilet breaks.

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