Thai workers who were laid-off last year from a factory that supplied global lingerie brands, including Victoria’s Secret, will receive $8.3 million in what labor activists say is the biggest settlement of its kind in the global garment industry.
About 1,200 workers were laid off without severance pay and wages owed to them by Brilliant Alliance Thai Global Co Ltd, after it went bankrupt and shut down its factory in Samut Prakan province in March 2021.
The incident was one of “hundreds of cases of wage theft” that labor activists say took place in the garment industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Scott Nova, Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium, an international labor advocacy group, the settlement – financed by Victoria’s Secret in a loan arrangement with BAT’s owner – could set a precedent for global brands to better protect the rights of workers in their supply chains.
More than a year after BAT and its Hong Kong-based owner, Clover Group, refused to pay the laid-off Thai workers, Victoria’s Secret & Co said this week in an emailed statement that it will extend a loan to the owners of Clover to finance the settlement.
A Thai labor ministry document seen by Reuters showed the total payment to the workers, including related costs, was 285.2 million baht (US$8.36 million).
Clover had initially said the workers should agree to wait 10 years to be paid in full.
Emily Lau, an executive of Clover and a board member of the bankrupt BAT, said on Friday (27 May) that the payment will be made with “the personal resources of owners Angie and Emily Lau,” but did not mention the loan from Victoria’s Secret. (NNT)
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