On October 21, 2019, six labour rights organizations sent letters to four major brands expressing their deep concern about the lack of follow-up by those brands to ensure that former workers at the LD El Salvador factory be fully compensated for US$1.7 million outstanding severance owed following the factory’s sudden closure. In March 2018, LD El Salvador, a garment factory located in the San Marcos free trade zone and owned by Korean group KT, was shut down without prior notice...

LD was a supplier for several major brands, through an intermediary called Global Brands Group (GBG). Those brands included PVH (owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger), Walmart, Ralph Lauren, and Levi Strauss & Co. The workers took their case to the Ministry of Labour, which ruled that the total amount owed to the LD workers at the time of closure was approximately US$2.3 million.

Despite this positive decision by the Ministry, LD El Salvador’s owners fled the country, leaving the workers empty-handed. In response to months of engagement and repeated requests for action from the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) and MSN, a group of major brands that had products made at LD pressured GBG to pay part of the severance owed to the workers. GBG eventually agreed to pay US$600,000, or 26% of the total money owing to workers. Workers agreed to accept the amount as an interim payment...

On July 27, worker representatives wrote to GBG and brand representatives reminding them of their outstanding debt, US$1.7 million, approximately US$2,000 per worker...