Summaries of Selected Cases
The following summaries provide additional information concerning eight of the cases reported in Table 2. These cases are highlighted because the affected workers and their organizations have been engaged in energetic efforts to secure the compensation owed, through
public protest and other means. We also include summaries of two additional cases—Elim in
Guatemala and Uni Gears in Bangladesh—where the employer failed to pay workers their full
severance at the time of dismissal but where engagement with the employer and the brands
that used the factory has led to commitments that the arrears will be paid. We excluded
these cases from Table 2, because full payment is now pending, but we include them in this
section to illustrate that even in cases where workers are ultimately paid what they owed,
outside intervention is often necessary to achieve that end.
A-One, Bangladesh
A-One BD Ltd., an Italian-owned supplier88 to Benetton and Next, located in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, closed in April 2020 leaving 1,400 workers unemployed. For the first
three months of 2020, the factory did not pay workers’ wages. After protesting, they received
payment for only two of the three months. In addition, after A-One closed, the factory did not
pay workers any of their severance. To date, workers are still waiting for these arrears, which
total an estimated $585,200.
Throughout several days and nights in December 2020, over 700 former A-One employees
maintained a nonviolent encampment in front of the Dhaka Press Club to bring attention
to their plight and demand payment. As is unfortunately commonplace in Bangladesh, the
authorities, which have failed to hold the employer accountable for its violation of the law,
responded to the workers’ peaceful protest by sending police to attack them. One of the
workers, Ashraf Ali, described to the Guardian what happened when the police arrived at
4:30 a.m.: “[A] lot of police came with a water cannon truck and baton charged us as we
slept. We were shocked by how sudden it was. Around 30 workers were beaten by police.
We didn’t deserve this.”89
Next listed A-One as a supplier in its January 2020 public suppliers list. The retailer, however, refuses to acknowledge responsibility for protecting worker rights at this factory, claiming that its last order was completed five months before the factory’s final closure.90 Benetton says its last delivery was in December 2019; however, Benetton’s website was still listing
A-One as a supplier well after the closure.91 Given that the factory’s wage theft commenced
months before it shut its doors, given that Benetton and Next were both using the factory
in its final months, and given that both listed the factory as a supplier into 2020, the brands’
denials of responsibility are hollow.
WRC
yz
Fired, Then Robbed
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