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January 25, 2019

Report: Pakistani Garment Workers Subjected To ‘Unfair and Abusive’ Labor Practices

The report from Human Rights Watch should raise red flags for promotional products firms that get apparel from Pakistan’s factories.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Promo suppliers and distributors that source apparel from factories in Pakistan might want to rethink the practice.

Human Rights Watch, an international NGO that conducts research and advocacy on human rights, just released a 73-page report that says Pakistan’s government is failing to enforce labor laws designed to protect millions of garment workers from labor rights abuses.

Titled “‘No Room to Bargain’: Unfair and Abusive Labor Practices in Pakistan,” the report alleges that Pakistani factories fail to pay minimum wages and pensions, suppress independent labor unions, force workers into overtime, don’t allow for sufficient breaks, and disregard regulations requiring paid maternity and medical leave. Some workers have reported verbal abuse, and said they were denied toilet breaks and clean drinking water. In two factories, Human Rights Watch documented managers beating workers. Forced/slave labor is a concern, too.

Additionally, Human Rights Watch said that the Pakistani government’s labor inspection system is broken and in need of an overhaul so that factories can be held accountable.

“Pakistan’s government has long neglected its obligations to protect the rights of the country’s garment workers,” said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government should urgently enforce the labor laws and adopt new policies to protect workers from abuse.”

Significantly, Human Rights Watch pointed a finger at apparel brands too, saying they must take more effective measures to prevent and correct labor abuses. “Domestic and international brands should recognize that respecting worker rights makes for more competitive businesses,” Adams said.

According to a report summary from Human Rights Watch, Pakistani garment workers have expressed serious grievances through strikes and protests. In December last year, garment workers protested at a purported training institute in Lahore run by a major Pakistani brand, which workers said abused a government incentive program. The workers maintained that the training institute was really a factory exploiting free labor from “trainees.” In May 2017, workers protested after Pakistani apparel brand Khaadi dismissed 32 laborers for demanding their rights under Pakistani law.

“I was fired last Sunday for not working overtime,” a garment worker laboring at a Karachi factory told Human Rights Watch. “I have not received a termination letter. On Monday, when I went to work, my name was listed with the security guard at the gate and he told me that I had been ‘gate stopped.’ Gate stopped is the most fearful term in the garment industry since it means that you have been fired and are no longer allowed to enter the factory.”

Meanwhile, a union leader from the Hafizabad district in Punjab said: “Union leaders have been harassed and intimidated multiple times. The management has used the local police to have fake [criminal] cases registered against union members and workers. I have been arrested, kept in a police lock-up, and tortured for calling a strike. Now any worker who is seen talking to a union leader is fired.”

The alleged systemic abuses at Pakistani garment factories come on the heels of other high-profile investigations that have revealed what investigators say are inhumane conditions in overseas factories producing apparel. The pop group Spice Girls was lambasted after The Guardian revealed that T-shirts it had made to support a female empowerment-focused charity initiative were produced by women factory workers in Bangladesh laboring in abusive conditions for an unlivable wage.

In December, an Associated Press report revealed that promo industry supplier Badger Sportswear (asi/37876) was sourcing apparel from a Chinese factory the AP said was using forced labor. North Carolina-based Badger Sportswear has since ended its relationship with Hetian Taida Apparel Co. Ltd.

In a separate situation, alleged human rights abuses at Vietnam-based apparel factories recently compelled Norway Pension Fund Global, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, to stop investing in Texwinca Holdings – a Hong Kong-based investment holding company in the yarn, fabric and apparel business.