Published on 22 July 2025.

Workers protest against factory closure of NEXT, Sri Lanka - 2025

Empty hangers in mainly blue and green colors are hanging on a rag

Despite an expected annual profit of £1.08 billion, the British company NEXT PLC closed its only unionised plant in Sri Lanka on 19^th May 2025. Two months on the affected workers and their union are still fighting against the closure.

According to the union, over 1,400 employees were informed of the closure without prior notice, partly via WhatsApp. The closure of the plant in Katunayake took place just a few days after dividends were approved at the company's Annual General Meeting. NEXT cites high operating costs as the reason for the closure. According to NEXT, those affected will receive severance pay in accordance with Sri Lankan labour law, and voluntary payments of up to LKR 2.5 million are also possible.

The affected workers and their union Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ&GSEU), an IndustriAll member union, consider the closure to be unlawful and a breach of the valid collective agreement from 2021, renewed in 2023. The affected plant had achieved better working conditions through union representation over the past four years. Two non-unionised NEXT plants remain open. Unions and NGOs accuse the company of deliberately suppressing union involvement and are calling for the plant closure to be reversed and for all employees to be reinstated.

Although NEXT claims to support employees in their search for new jobs in the region, many dismissed workers are currently unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. To provide help, the union runs a solidarity kitchen in Katunayake. At a meeting on 13^th July, members acknowledged the resistance of those affected and called for job protection and an end to unlawful closures. IndustriALL called on Next to take responsibility and protect workers' rights.