FLA: Stop justifying wage theft and retaliation

In the first year of the pandemic, at least 4,500 workers in two factories that made clothes for Nike were left without their rightfully earned wages and severance. The Hong Seng Knitting workers in Thailand were forced to sign an illegal wage theft scheme, “voluntarily” parting with their wages. The Violet Apparel workers were suddenly confronted with a closed factory, without receiving the severance they would be owed under Cambodian law.

Nike has been denying responsibility for these workers for five years now and has been stalling by commissioning and hiding behind reports by external consultants. The most recent of this string of reports was written by the Fair Labor Association (FLA) about the Hong Seng Knitting case and had conclusions that belie the words “fair labour” in the organisation’s name. The report’s author stated that even though she admitted that the factory had an abusive environment, most workers who signed the agreement to forgo their wages had done so consensually. It also said that the factory had been right in calling the police on a migrant worker who spoke out on Facebook. Because of the precarious position of migrant workers in Thailand, the worker felt compelled to flee back to Myanmar in the middle of the pandemic.

Following public backlash, FLA has changed the summary of the report drastically, but without changing the dangerous report itself, which continues to justify wage theft and retaliation against freedom of speech. Write to the FLA now to urge the organisation to remove and rectify this report and use its influence on Nike to make the company take full responsibility for justice for the Hong Seng and Violet Apparel workers.