Forced labor was allegedly used in Thailand for making F&F jeans for Tesco which has been sued by 130 former workers in a UK court.
The workers were employed by VK Garment Factory (VKG) located in Mae Sot, a border city close to Myanmar. The migrant workforce from Myanmar was engaged by the factory. The border town has a notorious reputation as a “wild west” for workers’ rights. The workers insist that Tesco should have known that labor rights are violated in the region.
The workers were paid £3-4 per day to work 15 hours from 8 am to 11 pm. They were entitled to one leave per month. The Thai minimum wage when these workers were engaged was £7 for an 8-hour day. They were not even paid even half the salary for working 7 hours extra.
Sometimes to fulfill the order of F+F jeans the workers had to work for 24 hours at least once a month. The factory-supplied jeans, denim jackets, and other F&F clothes for adults and children mostly for the Thai branch of Tesco.
Workers allege that they were shouted at and threatened by managers if they did not meet targets or refused to work overtime. Factory accommodation that was provided within the compound consisted of overcrowded rooms. The workers had to sleep on concrete floors. The water supply was from a dirty pond.
