Thai garment workers secure $8.3 million in back pay. This is the biggest severance case victory to date.
After months of worker protests and international campaigning, Victoria’s Secret has paid out $8.3 million in severance pay to Thai garment garment workers who sew their lingerie. To the best of our knowledge, this was the largest severance theft case ever at a single garment factory – and thus the biggest severance case victory to date.
RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS
THE LARGEST WAGE-THEFT SETTLEMENT AT A GARMENT FACTORY
The Solidarity Center and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) announced today that more than 1,250 Thai workers who sewed bras for Victoria’s Secret, Lane Bryant, and Torrid—and who were fired in 2021 without their legally mandated severance—have received $8.3 million (281 million baht) in compensation. The groups credited the decision of Victoria’s Secret to finance the payments, via a loan arrangement with the workers’ former employer.
After the Brilliant Alliance factory closed in March 2021, the Thai government ordered its owner, Hong Kong-based Clover Group, to pay severance within 30 days. Clover refused, telling the factory’s 1,250 low-wage workers it had no money and they should agree to wait 10 years to be paid in full.
Receiving this back pay means a huge difference for over 1,250 workers and their families, many of whom had to take out loans to pay their rent or feed their children after the factory unexpectedly closed in March 2021.
This is a huge victory for the workers and a testament to the courage of their union and the strength of the international solidarity campaign that supported them.
While Torrid and Lane Bryant, both Sycamore Partners brands that sourced from the factory, were unresponsive to the campaign and provided no support to the workers.
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