Workers share 1m payout after Haiti factory closure

More than 1,100 garment workers in Haiti are sharing 1m 830,000) in compensation from the owner of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein after being left destitute by the closure of a factory.

PVH, which was one of several brand owners sourcing from the Vald’or factory in the Caribbean country, agreed to pay the sum to cover missed severance pay and pension contributions directly to workers and the government pension fund after involvement by the Worker Rights Consortium lobby group.

Vald’or, which is owned by a USbased company and made clothes for PVH’s licensee Centric as well as several other brands, closed its factory in Port-au-Prince in January last year. Haiti’s garment industry has suffered amid rising violence in the country, which has affected shipments, and sliding orders from North American brands, which have been hit by the cost of living crisis.

In a rare intervention by a large fashion brand owner, most former Vald’or workers are receiving the equivalent of more than six months’ wages, and some are receiving more than a year’s pay.