A-One BD Ltd
Bangladesh
After not receiving wages for two months, 1,100 garment workers at the A-One BD Ltd. factory in Bangladesh suddenly lost their jobs when the factory closed in March, 2020. The factory supplied major garment companies such as Next, Benetton and Arcadia (Topshop) until shortly before the closure, but they had all pulled production. Workers were left penniless and have been without pay for over a year. This means they can’t pay their rent and have to borrow money to get food on the table. A-One worker Tahmina Azad told The Guardian: “Once, for two straight days, I had nothing to cook for my children.” The workers have been protesting since March and, on multiple occasions, were violently attacked by police or paid thugs while standing up for their rights. It is time that the brands take responsibility and ensure workers have a fund to appeal to, if they are dismissed without the payments they are owed.
Next Manufacturing Limited - VICTORY!
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, workers in garment factories across the country have neither been paid their full wages nor the bonuses they’re counting on to supplement their poverty wages. At the Next Manufacturing Ltd (NML) factory, wholly owned by the UK brand Next, workers staged a walk out in December 2020, because the factory cancelled their new years’ bonuses. The workers’ strike worked and they eventually received their bonuses. However, afterwards, when the workers decided to form a union, the factory leadership refused to recognise it. Despite management intimidation, almost half the workers joined. The struggle of the workers continued in the months since, to defend their labour rights on their own against companies such as Next. Finally, by June 2021 both Next and the NML factory recognised their union, meaning that workers can now collectively raise their voice to fight for their full wages and their rights. After long and hard negotiations the union (a branch union of the Free Trade Zones and General Service Employees Union) on October 2021 finally signed a collective agreement with the factory management, winning several employee demands. The workers won this struggle by standing together and persisting in the face of challenges. They were supported by activists in the UK and all over the world who held Next to account.