Femnet e.V.

Pressemeldungen - Unternehmensverantwortung & Lieferkettengesetz

13 February 2025 Workers in Thailand produced clothes for Otto Group brands – they have been waiting for their wages for five years

Press release of the Clean Clothes Campaign

"I want to say to OTTO that we have been making clothes for ten years," says Hnin Hnin*, a worker from Myanmar who made clothes for OTTO brands in the Thai Royal Knitting factory. “We have been harmed and feel hopeless, but we want help to get the money we deserve.”

In April 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the management of the Royal Knitting Factory in Thailand dismissed Hnin Hnin and a further 208 employees without notice. More than 90 percent of those affected are women from Myanmar. Their employer unlawfully refused them wages for work done and severance pay. Almost five years later, and despite the Thai court ruling against Royal Knitting, the 209 workers are still waiting for over $1,000,000 in unpaid wages and severance payments.

“When the factory closed, our lives were ruined. Since we lost our jobs, my husband and I only eat two meals a day,” says Yee, another former seamstress.

Since Royal Knitting refused to pay and there were hardly any opportunities to enforce the court ruling, the releases asked the well-known family business OTTO for support. In terms of due diligence, OTTO is positioning itself as a pioneer in respecting human rights. The company He says on his website, “Responsibility for our actions along the entire value chain”. However, it failed to provide any support to the dismissed workers in resolving this case. OTTO thus exposes its own statements as mere rhetoric.

The Clean clothes campaign has collected multiple, consistent statements from the workers that they produced clothing for the Otto Group brands. OTTO claims that the clothes did not come from the Royal Knitting Factory at the time of the redundancies This business relationship ended in 2017.. However, the former Royal Knitting employees provided us with packing lists and production instructions, which they used to produce clothing for Otto brands after 2017. Employees also presented clothing labels from OTTO brands - such as Sieh An! and Ambria (Witt) - that they sewed on garments before their release in 2020.

"We can no longer feed our children in a healthy way," says Yee. Since they lost their jobs, Yee and her husband have been heavily indebted to cover rent, bills, and other basic needs. Yee is one of the third of workers with children who struggle to make ends meet after being released.

Although the Otto Group does not owe these wages directly to the employees, it is - in our opinion - responsible under the German Supply Chain Act for taking effective measures against labour rights violations such as those in the present case caused by the Royal Knitting Fabrik. We have repeatedly urged OTTO to put pressure on its former and current business partners with the aim of fulfilling workers' legal claims. If this does not succeed, we call on the Group to take responsibility itself and to pay the legally due wages and severance payments in lieu. But instead of taking responsibility, OTTO threatened to take legal action. When CCC Germany first published information about this case in May last year, OTTO obviously feared image damage and demanded cease-and-desist statements. This measure intimidated the workers. They were afraid to speak publicly.

The international Clean Clothes Campaign is now preparing a complaint under the Supply Chain Act to the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control on behalf of the workers. The complaint argues that OTTO has so far failed to remedy the situation in the interests of its employees. This makes it clear that the company has not fulfilled its human rights obligations under the German Supply Chain Act in this case.

On February 19, the Clean Clothes Campaign will host a webinar in which participants will hear affected workers and our partner organization in Thailand leading this case.

 

Register for the webinar here.

 

 

 

*All names of workers in this press release have been changed for their safety

• +49 178 8 23 30 79
  Contacts
  Casework
  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Clean Clothes Campaign,
  ,
• +49 151 65 10 93 60
  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  Member of the Board
  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Clean Clothes Campaign,
  ,