Indonesian workers win large sum in illegally denied severance case

Kahoindah-Line-scaled

The parent company of an Indonesian supplier to US sportswear brand Nike has awarded US$4.5m in back pay to around 2,000 former clothing workers who lost their jobs after the factory closed in October 2018.

Under Indonesia’s generous severance laws, most of the workers should have been eligible for 18 months’ worth of severance pay, equal to about US$4,000 each.

However, Hojeon⁠, a South Korea-based manufacturer that operated Kahoindah Citragarment in Bekasi, West Java (and continues to operate several other clothing factories in Indonesia), paid out only half that amount, according to a report by the Washington, USA-based advocacy group Workers Rights Consortium, which was contacted by the unions for the factory workers to investigate the situation.

For the full story, see the January 2020 edition of Textiles South East Asia. Not a subscriber? Sign up HERE


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