Victoria’s Secret agrees to finance US$8.3 million settlement for laid-off Thai garment workers
- Some 1,200 workers were let go without severance pay and wages owed to them after Brilliant Alliance Thai Global (BAT) went bankrupt, in an incident activists say was one of ‘hundreds of cases of wage theft’ during the pandemic
- More than a year after BAT and its Hong Kong-based owner Clover Group refused to pay the workers, Victoria’s Secret said this week it will extend a loan to the owners of Clover to finance the settlement
Thai workers who were sacked last year from a factory supplying global lingerie brands including Victoria’s Secret will receive US$8.3 million, in what labour 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 (BAT) after it went bankrupt and shut down its factory in Samut Prakan province in March 2021.
The factory also produced underwear for plus-size American brands Lane Bryant and Torrid, owned by Sycamore Partners – but only Victoria’s Secret contributed to the settlement via a loan arrangement with the factory’s owners.
The incident was one of “hundreds of cases of wage theft” that labour activists say took place in the garment industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. 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, according to Scott Nova, Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium, an international labour advocacy group.
“Global brands need to realise that they are not passive investors, but trendsetters in setting labour standards,” said David Welsh, the Thailand director for the Solidarity Center, a US-based workers rights’ advocacy group.
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 would extend a loan to the owners of Clover to finance the settlement.
