"I think it's extremely unprecedented and represents a new model - the scale of severance and interest paid on it. The agreement is the largest ever wage theft settlement at an individual garment factory, the international workers rights group Solidarity Centre said. "The doors of the labour ministry were locked when we went there to seek help and the minister didn't seem to want to listen to our problem." "If we hadn't fought for fair compensation, we wouldn't have received anything," Jitnawatcharee, who is also president of the Triumph International Workers' Union of Thailand, told AFP.
"We regret they were not ultimately in a position to conclude this matter on their own so to ensure the workers received their full severance amounts owed, Victoria's Secret agreed to advance the severance funds to the factory owners," it added.įormer worker Jitnawatcharee Panad had clocked up 25 years at the factory and said more than two thirds of the sacked workers were women aged 45 or older. "Over several months we had been in active communication with the factory owners to facilitate a resolution," the company said.
Victoria's Secret confirmed in a statement that an agreement had been reached, but did not mention the amount involved.
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. More than a thousand sacked Thai garment workers who made bras at a factory supplying lingerie giant Victoria's Secret have received a landmark 8.3 million dollar settlement, labour rights activists said Saturday.īrilliant Alliance Thai closed down its Samut Prakan factory in March 2021 after going bankrupt.īut the 1,250 laid-off workers – many of whom had worked at the factory for over a decade – did not receive severance payouts mandated under Thai law.