In December, Tesco and auditing firm Intertek had been sued for negligence and unjust enrichment in a case bought by the law firm Leigh Day.

Labour Behind the Label plans to ask the Tesco board why it continues to rely on auditing practices which fail to protect workers in their supplier factories and whether they will be cutting ties with Intertek after its ineffectual audits opened the company up to international legal action.

Anna Bryher, policy lead for Labour Behind the Label said: “Women in garment factories around the world are routinely subject to exploitation and rights abuse. Tesco profited from the VK Garment workers’ exploitation while Intertek stood by and watched, failing to report the abuse they witnessed including threats, fraud, excessive hours and more. Tesco and Intertex must pay VK workers and settle the legal case being brought against them. It’s the least they can do.

“Social auditing is a multi-million pound industry that provides a fig leaf for abuse in garment factories worldwide. Fashion brands pay social audit firms to provide plausible deniability, while everyone in the industry knows rights abuse is endemic. Social auditing not only fails to identify human rights violations, but also actively undermines human rights protection. The Rana Plaza building which collapsed in Dhaka housed factories where social audits had taken place just months before the disaster, giving green lights to brands where there should have been warnings.”

“Tesco as a company has the opportunity through this case to cut ties with big audit firms like Intertek, and adopt a more transparent, hands-on way of monitoring labour rights in factories, that could see active participation in rights protection.”

Tesco and Intertek did not return request for comment at time of press.