by Alexandra Harrell for Sourcing Journal

After nearly five years of advocacy, a migrant worker who was allegedly retaliated against at a Nike supplier factory has received compensation. 

For non-governmental organizations such as the Clean Clothes Campaign and Partners for Dignity and Rights, it was sustained pressure from unions, students and labor groups that ultimately forced movement on the case—leading the Just Do It giant to, well, just do it: Take accountability. 

The case, dating back to the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, has become a litmus test for how global brands respond when legal compliance, worker harm and reputational risk collide. It also tests whether voluntary oversight bodies can deliver justice without external force.

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The Worker Rights Consortium—a Washington, D.C. watchdog group that published its own investigation into Hong Sent Knitting in 2021—has long challenged Nike’s position. 

The report “Checking Boxes, Cheating Workers: How Social Auditing Firms ail Workers” [published by Partners for Dignity and Rights in 2025] indicates that Nike commissioned a 2020 audit. Nike later stated that the audit concluded the furlough program was consensual, voluntary and consistent with local law and labor guidelines. 

“This victory sends a clear message that Nike can be forced to change its position on whether compensation is owed to workers in its supply chain,” said Sarah Newell, the director of transnational strategies at Partners for Dignity and Rights. 

After years of Nike insisting that no harm was done to worker Kyaw San Oo  or his coworkers, she continued, a coordinated cross-border pressure campaign shifted the outcome, leading to payment and a precedent she believes could matter for other unresolved cases. Newell pointed to the Violet Apparel factory in Cambodia, where workers are still pushing Nike and the factory owner, Ramatex, for alleged unpaid wages dating back to 2020. She argued this moment should warn brands that denial is not a defense.

“We’re in a new era where brands are being held responsible for abuses in their supply chains,” Newell said. “There’s no going back.” 

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That said, Nike’s decision to provide compensation to thousands of workers at a Thai factory after nearly five years of dispute is being framed as a resolution. But for labor advocates, the outcome raises a larger question: if a remedy comes only after sustained public pressure, what role do corporate [social responsibility] systems actually play? 

“In this time of rising corporate impunity, we celebrate the fact that when workers and their allies unite across borders, we can overcome even the most entrenched resistance from global brands and suppliers and we will keep fighting to hold brands accountable,” said the Clean Clothes Campaign, a global Alliance of labor unions and NGOs fighting for garment worker rights.

Read the full joint statement from Clean Clothes Campaign and Partners for Dignity and Rights.

Read the rest of the Sourcing Journal article.