"Rights groups to move court for inquiry into non-payment of workers’ wages", 21 October 2021

Leading human rights and labour support organisations, including the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and National Trade Union Federation, have announced they will file a public interest litigation in the Sindh High Court...demanding an inquiry into the non-payment of workers’ wages by 23 garment-exporting factories in Karachi during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rights groups are also demanding that the brands sourcing from these factories be held legally liable as “joint employers” for the wage theft of workers under Pakistan’s laws, and that the exploitative purchasing practices of these brands, which is the basis of such wage theft, should be deemed illegal and unconstitutional.

As per a study conducted by the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), 139,200 workers in these 23 factories suffered wage theft of approximately $54,660,525 in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the global fashion brands and retailers sourcing from these factories cancelled orders or demanded retroactive price reductions, for goods which were already in production...