Tesco is facing a landmark lawsuit over allegations that migrant workers were forced to work 99-hour weeks on illegally low pay, making jeans for the supermarket giant’s F&F fashion brand. A group of 130 former employees at VK Garment Factory in Thailand are suing Tesco and auditing specialists Intertek for “alleged negligence and unjust enrichment”.
The allegations, which were first reported following an investigation by The Guardian, were made by workers who produced jeans, denim jackets and other F&F clothing for adults and children for the Thai branch of Tesco’s business between 2017 and 2020. Tesco completed the sale of its Thailand and Malaysia business in December 2020 for around £8 billion.
VK Garment Factory is in Mae Sot, a city near the Myanmar border, which developed a workforce of predominantly Burmese migrant workers. The employees have already pursued a claim in Thailand against the factory.
