// Tesco faces lawsuit from Thailand factory workers for low pay and long hours
// The workers produced jeans, denim jackets and other clothing for Tesco’s F&F brand between 2017 and 2020
Tesco is facing a lawsuit over allegations that a group of factory workers in Thailand are facing 99-hour weeks on low pay to make jeans for the supermarket’s F&F fashion brand.
A group of 130 former workers at VK Garment Factory are suing the grocer and auditing specialists Intertek for “alleged negligence and unjust enrichment”.
The workers produced jeans, denim jackets and other clothing for Tesco’s F&F brand for its Thai branch between 2017 and 2020.
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VK Garment Factory, which is located in Mae Sot, employs a workforce of predominantly Burmese migrant workers.
In the UK, the case is led by law firm Leigh Day, which claimed that the migrants were paid at most around £4 a day, working seven days a week, and were “trapped in a cycle of forced labour”.
The migrant workers are accusing the supermarket of poor conditions in the factories as they have had to sleep on cement floors with little or no privacy due to there being no locks, walls or ceilings.
The employees claim they had to work from 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and on Sundays were permitted to finish work at 5pm unless orders meant they had to work longer, LBC News reported.
Tesco said that protecting the rights of everyone working in its supply chain is “absolutely essential”.
“Any risk of human rights abuses is completely unacceptable, but, on the very rare occasions where they are identified, we take great care to ensure they are dealt with appropriately, and that workers have their human rights and freedoms respected,” Tesco said.
In December 2020, Tesco completed the sale of its Thailand and Malaysia business for around £8 billion.
Retail Gazette has approached Tesco for comment.
