News Forum - UK Tesco accused of using slave labour in Thailand

[Thaiger]

The UK’s Tesco supermarket chain has been accused of using slave labour in Thailand. Burmese workers that made jeans for Tesco Lotus in Thailand worked 99-hour weeks for illegally low pay, in appalling conditions, a Guardian investigation has found. Tesco faces a landmark lawsuit in the UK from 130 former workers at VK Garment Factory (VKG), who are suing the mega-grocer for negligence and unjust enrichment. The workers made jeans and denim jackets for Tesco Lotus between 2017 and 2020. Tesco said the garments were sold only on the Thai market, though profits from sales in Thailand went back to […]

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[Grumpish]

Presumably they think that the UK courts will be a softer touch than the stores current (Thai) owners - I don't know where the corporate liability would sit, since Tesco UK sold the stores back to the Charoen Pokphand Group in 2020.

[Soidog]

2 hours ago, Grumpish said:

Presumably they think that the UK courts will be a softer touch than the stores current (Thai) owners - I don't know where the corporate liability would sit, since Tesco UK sold the stores back to the Charoen Pokphand Group in 2020.

Exactly. Even if they still owned it, these weren’t Tesco only factories run by Thais who exploited people from Myanmar. I guess it’s easier to go after a company ruled under U.K. law than it is the corrupt government legal officials who preside in Thai courts. 

[Mazz11]

I do find it interesting that whenever a company gets caught with their pants down they always claim that if they had known of any improper practices they would never have allowed them to occur.

I'm not saying that this company is innocent or guilty but you see it all the time with multinationals taking the most cost effective route in a 2nd or 3rd world country and then claiming that they had no idea that the workers were being exploited. 

[HiuMak]

14 hours ago, Thaiger said:

Tesco said the garments were sold only on the Thai market, though profits from sales in Thailand went back to […]

Does this even matter? Brain dead explanation.

 

 

 

"A Tesco spokesperson said…

“Protecting the rights of everyone working in our supply chain is absolutely essential to how we do business. In order to uphold our stringent human rights standards, we have a robust auditing process in place across our supply chain and the communities where we operate.

 

“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.

“The allegations highlighted in this report are incredibly serious, and had we identified issues like this at the time they took place, we would have ended our relationship with this supplier immediately.

“We understand the Thai labour court has awarded compensation to those involved, and we would continue to urge the supplier to reimburse employees for any wages they’re owed.”

 

So Full of Sh*t.