900+Thai garment workers owed millions in wage theft; hold companies accountable

[This is not an FCCT-organized event. Free and open to all.]

More than 900 Thai workers are owed millions of US dollars by the factory owner of Body Fashion Thailand Limited, and the prominent European and American brands who ordered their clothing manufactured there. Over the course of several months, the owner of Body Fashion illegally terminated the entire workforce from two factories in Nakhon Sawan and Samut Prakan without a single dollar in severance being paid to any worker, many of whom had worked at the factories for over a decade.

Clear and decisive Thai court rulings requiring the workers be paid severance pay, in line with Thai labor law, have been repeatedly ignored by the factory owner. Now Thai and international groups are stepping up to demand the factory owner, as well as the European and American clothing brands that sourced from Body Fashion [namely the Austrian company Huber Holding (owner of the brands Hanro, HOM, Huber Bodywear, and Skiny), the Swiss company Triumph, and the American brands Lane Bryant and Victoria’s Secret] pay the workers what they are owed.
At stake is an estimated $US 7.6 million in severance pay owed to the more than 900 Thai garment workers who worked at Body Fashion Thailand Limited**.**
Come to the press conference to hear directly from factory workers about the dire situation they face after being fired without legal compensation owed to them, and their struggle for justice. International trade union and supply chain accountability experts will also explain what’s at stake in this vitally important case that has significant implications for worker justice and corporate accountability in Thailand.
In recent years, Thailand has been at the center of historic victories for supply chain accountability victories for workers and trade unions. For example, in 2022, a coalition of trade union and worker activists secured a $US 8.3 million settlement from Victoria’s Secret for more than 1000 Thai garment workers who previously made Victoria Secret’s products at the Brilliant Alliance Thailand factory. At the time, this was the largest severance pay theft settlement in the history of the global garment industry.
Ensuring international brands meet their obligations is a burning issue for workers in Thailand, and globally. The Body Fashion case is unique and potentially precedent setting for several reasons. First, the huge amount owed to workers makes this one of the largest instances of severance pay theft in the history of the global garment industry. Second, the owner of the factory is also the CEO of one the main brands that sourced from Body Fashion, eliminating any distinction in culpability between the factory and brands making millions of dollars off the backs of vulnerable Thai workers. In many other cases, when a factory owner fails to pay workers, it is almost always because the factory owner is bankrupt and no longer active in the garment industry. In this case, the owner is not bankrupt and remains active in the industry, even as he brazenly refuses to pay the workers.
This case is particularly timely because Thailand is in the midst of negotiating a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union. Due diligence laws to hold companies accountable for workers’ rights violations in their overseas supply chains are burgeoning in the EU, and Thailand itself in the process of drafting its own mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law.
Join us in the FCCT clubhouse or via Facebook Live, to hear from:
Dave Welsh, country director, Solidarity Center Thailand.
Scott Nova, executive director, Worker Rights Consortium.
Gertrude Klaffenböck, coordinator, Austrian Clean Clothes Campaign, Südwind.
Johnson Ching Yin, Yeung, International Urgent Appeals coordinator, Clean Clothes Campaign.
Prasit Koedphithak, former Body Fashion garment worker**.**
Jaruwan Karak, former Body Fashion garment worker.
Thai-English interpretation will be available.