Lawyers representing mainland workers who toiled making name-brand products in Hong Kong-run sweatshops in Saipan have urged more victims to come forward after the Sunday Morning Post found ex-workers still suffering two years on.
A class-action lawsuit alleging inhuman working conditions launched by 25,000 garment workers, mostly mainlanders, who worked at eight factories remains in limbo after months of legal wrangling.
Lawyers accuse the factories of forcing employees to work in hot, crowded and unsafe conditions and pressuring them to meet strict production quotas. They are now seeking more witnesses.
Workers say they paid thousands of dollars for jobs recruiters claimed were in America, but turned out to be on the remote and underdeveloped Northern Mariana Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The suit is being brought in conjunction with two similar actions, one filed by another group of workers and another by four US-based labour rights groups. It covers former workers and those who still work in Saipan, a US protectorate.
Workers have already secured a partial victory - 19 retailers, including Calvin Klein, Polo and Ralph Lauren, have agreed to settle claims totalling US$8 million (HK$62.2 million) in unpaid wages. But they refuse to pay out until legal loose ends are tied up.
The companies have also agreed to pay for an independent monitoring system to guard against future labour abuse on the islands. The remaining retailers, including Levi Strauss and the contracting manufacturers, have so far refused to settle.