"Wronged migrant worker at Nike supplier factory finally compensated", 19 December 2025

...after nearly five years of campaigning and advocacy, the migrant worker targeted by a major Nike supplier with false criminal charges for leading opposition to its abusive labour practices has finally received just compensation...

In April 2020, amid the shutdowns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, 3,300 workers at the Hong Seng Knitting factory in Thailand were deceived and coerced into signing away their legally-owed wages. When one worker, Kyaw San Oo, rallied workers to resist, the factory retaliated with its criminal complaint against him. Since he and his wife, who also worked at the factory, were vulnerable as migrant workers to unjust arrest and indefinite imprisonment, they were forced to flee the country with their infant child. Hong Seng Knitting then posted the criminal complaint on the factory’s Facebook page and threatened that any other worker who spoke out against its theft of workers’ wages would be prosecuted.

...Nike commissioned a series of investigations by corporate-funded organizations that stalled the resolution of the case. In particular, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) intervened to investigate the case...The findings of the FLA’s investigation...were widely rejected by the labour movement...The report aimed to justify the criminal charges against Kyaw San Oo for posting on social media and concluded, absurdly, that the Hong Seng workers gave up their wages voluntarily...

...While workers were not paid fully whole as they received their leave hours back but not full wages with interest, pressure did cause Nike to recognize that the FLA’s recommendations were too low and paid workers nearly double what the FLA recommended, a figure closer to the original number calculated by the WRC. Kyaw San Oo and his wife were also awarded $42,000 in recognition of the harms they suffered - 23 times the paltry amount recommended by the FLA. This increase makes his compensation one of the largest amounts ever paid to a worker leader who was a victim of retaliation during a labour rights fight in the global apparel and textile industry...

Internal pressure within the FLA for their defense of Hong Seng’s conduct gave the final push to this resolution. A union board member of the Fair Labor Association (FLA)’s refusal to accept the organization’s defense of the criminal charges against him was pivotal in forcing Nike and Hong Seng to significantly increase the compensation to the leader, Kyaw San Oo. Nazma Akter of the Sommilito Garment Sramik Federation trade union in Bangladesh resigned her seat on the FLA’s board of directors after months of protest within the organization, in response to the FLA’s flawed report on the case and its failure to ensure workers received full remedy...Despite this, the FLA appears to continue to stand behind its flawed investigation...

In addition to the compensation for Kyaw San Oo, every worker at Hong Seng Knitting whose wages were stolen has now received significant compensation.