"Next UK reports huge profits yet denies Sri Lankan garment workers their ‘bonus’", 7 January 2021

Update: On Friday 8 January 2021 garment workers at Next Manufacturing Ltd in Sri Lanka met with management who finally agreed to pay workers their full December bonus. This is a great outcome for workers who took a stand and acted together, refusing to accept the further erosion of the value of their wages by the denial of their bonus. Other clothing brands should follow suit, and make sure workers in their supply chains are not denied the bonuses they rely on. 

“Annual bonuses are not just a little money for us” explain Next garment factory workers in Sri Lanka. Management have denied workers their so-called ‘bonus’ - which many depend on to buy essentials they cannot afford with their poverty wages - the final straw which led to a walkout by workers amid demands that Next pay up... In December 2020, Next Manufacturing Ltd in Sri Lanka, a wholly owned subsidiary of Next UK, told its 2,350 factory workers that it would not pay them their annual bonus. This led to a walkout by hundreds of workers, and only under this pressure did management release 50% of the bonus pre-Christmas. Management is still holding back on paying workers the full amount. Many garment workers depend on this bonus to supplement their poverty wages – which are less than a third of the Sri Lankan living wage...

[I]n Sri Lanka it is common practice for factories to offer bonus schemes as a way of attracting workers while paying minimal guaranteed wages. For garment workers the bonus is essential – it pays for basic necessities which their poverty wage alone cannot provide. Next UK has a responsibility, the means, and managerial influence, to ensure their Sri Lankan workers are paid their bonus. 

Sanduni* works 7am to 6pm five days a week for Next Manufacturing Ltd in Sri Lanka, and her basic monthly salary is LKR 22,500 (£88). She told us: “It is not enough, we have to eat, my kid has to eat and I also have to send money for my mother and father [in the village] too”...