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Article

4 Oct 2006

Author:
Clean Clothes Campaign

Keep Gina Form Open! [Thailand]

…help stop Clover Group's attempt to shut down the Gina Form Bra factory in Thailand, producing underwear for among others Victoria Secret [part of Limited Brands] and Calvin Klein [part of Phillips-Van Heusen]...After a long struggle…[c]onditions improved greatly and Gina became one of the few factories in Thailand providing decent wages and conditions…On August 29th, management announced they were packing over 600 of the Thai factory's sewing machines for shipment to their other facility in China without a word of prior notice...Gina's Hong Kong owner, Clover Group, plans to close down the facility by October 31...The GRWU [Gina Relation Workers Union]...took the case...to the Minister of Labour of Thailand, who issued a Ministerial order to prevent management from shipping assets out of Thailand...The order also specifies that...sufficient funds should be made available to ensure all legal severance is paid...[The] management...tried to get workers to sign "updated employment contracts" which in fact amounted to a (voluntary) resignation letter...workers who had signed these ...letters would have lost their right to the severance pay...[K]ey buyers sourcing at Gina Form [and Clover Group],...the Limited [,]...Warnaco [,] Charming Shoppes...The Gap, La Senza and Lindex...were...contacted [and] were...asked to...make a public statement that they will continue to source from Gina Form Bra in Thailand and that they do not prefer to source from China at the expense of shutting down a factory in Thailand that has made outstanding progress towards code compliance…The Limited, Warnaco and Gap contacted Clover Group…