“That period was a time I was in hell” is how one woman describes her two years working for VK Garments (VKG) in Thailand.

Hla Hla Tey, who at 54 has struggled to find work since losing her job and now lives in a monastery, is among 130 former workers who are bringing a landmark case against Tesco in the UK.

The supermarket giant stands accused of negligence and unjust enrichment on the basis of events at a clothing factory making F-F brand jeans in Mae Sot, a city at the Myanmar border, between 2017 and 2020.

The area is described as a wild west of the global garment industry, with western retailers and their subcontractors drawn by the promise of cheap labour supplied by Burmese migrants.Attention at the moment is rightly focused on the adverse effects of rising prices.

Particularly in the run-up to Christmas, the UK public is accustomed to being reminded about the financial and other difficulties faced by people who are less fortunate than themselves.

But the harmful impact of downward cost pressures must not be forgotten, even if those harms take place thousands of miles away.

The demand for cheap goods, including new fashions, continues to lead to the exploitation of workers around the world, as employers vie with one another to fulfil orders as cheaply as they can.Tesco says that the jeans made by VKG in Mae Sot were sold in Thailand, not Britain.

But the relationship between the supermarket and its Thai branch, Ek-Chai (which has since been sold), VKG and an auditor, Intertek, is part of a system developed by retailers that enables them to outsource risks as well as well as keep costs down.

Following earlier scandals over dangerous and exploitative working conditions, the most dramatic of which was the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, retailers have in some cases opted to extend supply chains further, placing more intermediaries between themselves and the people making the clothes they sell.This is the system that is now being challenged.

Lawyers at Leigh Day argue that vast profits are being made off the back of an outsourcing model built on overwork and illegally low pay.

Experiences described to our reporter include serious injuries caused by machines, overnight shifts that left workers struggling to stay awake, and employee bank accounts controlled by the factory.

Most distressing of all, parents were obliged to leave children in insecure dormitories while working extended shifts, and in 2018 a seven-year-old girl was raped.

In many cases, including this one, workers say they were pressured by bosses not to report serious harm.In 2020 a Thai court ruled that employees dismissed by VKG were entitled to severance pay.

Their hope is that a UK court will go further, and hold Tesco and others accountable for their mistreatment.

VKG denies breaking any Thai laws, while Tesco says that its human rights standards are robust.

Whatever happens next, the case will shine a light on the way that workers at the far end of supply chains continue to suffer from labour practices that should not be allowed.

The desire for affordable goods should never override the rights of the people who are making them.

British businesses must take responsibility for the consequences when they choose to operate in places such as Mae Sot, with a migrant workforce known to be vulnerable.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here..

This article first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com