Victoria’s Secret agrees to finance $8.3 million settlement for laid-off Thai workers
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BANGKOK, May 27 (Reuters) – Thai personnel who were sacked final yr from a manufacturing unit giving world-wide lingerie brands together with Victoria’s Secret will obtain $8.3 million, in what labour activists say is the most significant settlement of its sort in the world-wide garment business.
About 1,200 workers were being laid off with out severance spend and wages owed to them by Good Alliance Thai World Co Ltd (BAT) soon after it went bankrupt and shut down its factory in Samut Prakan province in March 2021.
The incident was just one of “hundreds of instances of wage theft” that labour activists say took position in the garment market in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The settlement, financed by Victoria’s Solution in a personal loan arrangement with BAT’s operator, could set a precedent for international makes to much better secure the legal rights of personnel in their provide chains, according to Scott Nova, Government Director of the Worker Legal rights Consortium, an international labour advocacy group.
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“Worldwide manufacturers need to have to realise that they are not passive traders, but craze-setters in placing labour standards,” reported David Welsh, the Thailand director for the Solidarity Centre, a U.S.-dependent workers rights’ advocacy team.
Additional than a year following BAT and its Hong Kong-dependent operator Clover Team refused to pay out the laid-off Thai workers, Victoria’s Magic formula & Co (VSCO.N)mentioned this 7 days in an emailed statement. It will extend a loan to the entrepreneurs of Clover to finance the settlement.
It was unclear how significantly of the settlement Victoria’s Magic formula would address, saying in the assertion that BAT’s operator were being not “in a situation to conclude this issue on their have” so the firm “agreed to advance the severance cash to manufacturing facility proprietors,” with no revealing the amount of money.
A Thai labour ministry document seen by Reuters showed the overall payment to the personnel including relevant charges was in a complete of 285.2 million baht ($8.36 million).
Clover experienced to begin with mentioned the workers should really concur to hold out 10 yrs to be compensated in entire.
Emily Lau, an govt of Clover and a board member of the bankrupt BAT explained on Friday the payment will be made with “the personalized sources of owners, Angie and Emily Lau” but did not point out the mortgage from Victoria’s Magic formula.
($1 = 34.1500 baht)
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Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat Modifying by Kanupriya and Nick Zieminski
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