In July 2021, in a year which presented few reasons to be happy, the garment workers of Sindh province in Pakistan had cause to celebrate. The provincial government had just announced a 40% increase to the minimum wage, raising it from 17,000 to 25,000 rupees (from €84 to €124 at the current exchange rate) per month. Although still well below living wage levels, the hike was an urgently needed step up from the poverty pay that left workers struggling to survive during the pandemic.
A government-ordered increase should have been water-tight, immovable. It should have guaranteed workers enough money to feed their families and pay their rent. However, progress in the garment industry is fragile. Now, half a year later, the promised wage increase has still not materialised.
Factory owners, squeezed by brands’ desire for ever-cheaper production and fearing that they wouldn’t be able to meet the higher labour costs, banded together to appeal against the order. The Sindh Supreme Court is in the process of making a final judgement and a decision is expected later this month. In the meantime, workers continue to be paid barely enough to live and are owed six months of a 40% wage increase. This is wage theft on a huge scale, yet the garment brands sourcing wares from the province, including Gap, H&M, C&A, Aldi Nord, Bestseller, Levi’s and Fruit of the Loom, have stayed silent. The brands are knowingly allowing systematic theft to continue in their supply chains, going against their self-professed desire to see workers paid a decent wage.
