Huber Holding Chooses Intimidation Over Responsibility

Labour and human rights organisations demand compensation for over 900 workers in Thailand and sharply criticise Huber Holding: “Intimidation tactics are unacceptable!”

Clean Clothes Campaign, Solidarity Center Thailand, Südwind, and Worker Rights Consortium strongly criticise the Vorarlberg-based underwear company Huber Holding’s response to their entreaties that it ensure full remedy owed to workers who made its apparel. Rather than acknowledging responsibility to remedy egregious labor rights violations in its supply chain, the company has instead issued threats: Huber announced it may bring legal action against the organisations that uncovered the case of unpaid wages and severance owed to 932 workers in Thailand.

“Instead of spreading misinformation and relying on intimidation tactics, Huber must finally take responsibility. The company is fully able to ensure payment of compensation,” says Südwind spokesperson Gertrude Klaffenböck. “In this case, the courts have already ruled – namely in favour of 932 dismissed workers. They are owed around € 6.5 million in severance, wages, and bonuses plus interest, all legally due under Thai law, which Huber CEO Robert Ng, as the owner of the factory that employed them, continues to withhold to this day.”

Huber Holding’s CEO Owned the Body Fashion Factory
Robert Ng (also known as Ng Man Choong) was the owner of Body Fashion Thailand Limited when over 900 garment workers were dismissed in 2020 without legally mandated compensation. At the same time, he was – and continues to be – CEO of Huber Holding GmbH and Chairman of the Board of Huber Holding AG, based in Austria. As confirmed by workers, as well as by Huber, the Body Fashion garment factory in Thailand produced goods for Huber in Austria, among other brands.

Precedents for Compensation
“There are numerous precedents in the global fashion industry of brands taking responsible action after factory closures. Other international brands have correctly assumed responsibility in similar cases: either through making direct payments themselves or by pressuring factory owners to provide compensation. That is exactly what we expect from Huber,” explains Gertrude Klaffenböck. For example, in 2021 Victoria’s Secret paid more than USD 8 million to around 1,250 workers of the garment factory Brilliant Alliance Thai Global, who were also dismissed without severance following a sudden closure.

Huber Violates Its Own Code of Conduct
Particularly striking: In its own Code of Conduct, Huber explicitly commits to compliance with local laws. It states: “Employees of the Huber Group must comply with all applicable international, national, and local laws and regulations […] at all times.”

“Huber is clearly violating its own rules,” says Scott Nova, Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium. “It was Huber’s CEO Robert Ng himself who, as the owner of Body Fashion, was responsible for the factory breaking the law. Yet, in its public responses to the case, Huber has failed to acknowledge this basic fact.”

Threats and Distraction
“Any threat to take legal action against labour rights organisations is an unacceptable intimidation tactic and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms!” says David Welsh, Country Director of the Solidarity Center in Thailand. “It is high time all buyers of Body Fashion Thailand face up to their responsibility. The workers in Thailand have won a legally binding judgment and have been waiting for their money for five years. Any further delay is an affront to fundamental labor and human rights. This case has garnered significant domestic and international attention and it will continue to do so until these almost 1000 workers receive what has been stolen from them.”