The HUL Kodaikanal factory saga

Today's agreement between the former employees and the FCMG giant is a culmination of a long standing matter

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Pond’s HLL ex-Mercury Employees Welfare Association, representing the ex-employees of the former thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, have today announced the signing of a settlement.

Here's the timeline of the contentious issue.

In 1983…
Amidst tightening environmental regulation in the US due to mercury’s toxic effects, Chesebrough Pond’s Inc. moved its mercury thermometer factory to the hill station of Kodaikanal from the US.

In 1986…
Unilever’s subsidiary Hindustan Lever Limited acquired this thermometer plant as part of Unilever’s acquisition of Chesebrough Pond’s.

Between 1984 and 1989
The factory was firing on all cylinders. Workers came in two shifts, 200 in each.  Over time, more than 1,000 people have worked here.

Till 2001
The factory produced 163 million thermometers using about 900 kg of mercury annually. The thermometers were exported to the US and Europe. The toxic wastes were left to remain in Kodaikanal.

In early 2001
* Factory workers complained of health problems and many public interest groups, such as Greenpeace, alleged that the company wasn't handling mercury, a highly potent metal, properly.

* The company was directed to shut down after Palani Hills Conservation Council and Greenpeace exposed the company’s attempt to sell glass contaminated with mercury to a scrap dealer.

* Ex-employees and activists alleged between 1984 and 2001, 15 people died due to contamination and this figure later went up to nearly 50.

In 2003
Around 300 tonnes of contaminated waste was extracted, according to reports.

In 2006
* The plant, machinery and materials used in thermometer manufacturing at the site were decontaminated and disposed of as scrap to industrial recyclers.

* Former employees file a petition in the Madras High Court in February 2006 seeking economic rehabilitation

In March 2016
After fighting a legal battle that lasted mroe than a decade, HUL and its former employees of Kodaikanal factory sign settlement

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