Tag: underpaid

  • American entrepreneur paying $4 per hour criticised for exploiting Pakistanis

    American entrepreneur paying $4 per hour criticised for exploiting Pakistanis

    A video shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday is being criticised by users. The video, which features an X user named Christian, says that he remotely hires people from Pakistan to work for him.

    He has a marketing agency and he stated he pays his employees $4 an hour and “they’re extremely grateful to be working with me”.

    Christian explains that he hires a virtual assistant from Pakistan for administrative level tasks for his business like formatting spreadsheets, setting up email accounts and pays them 4 USD an hour.

    He justifies the meagre amount by expounding that an average monthly income in Pakistan is 280 USD, but as he is paying them four USD an hour, they are getting 160 USD a week or 640 USD a month, which is almost 3 times the average income, “a really great living for them”, he adds.

    “They live very very well.”

    He also added that if they perform well, the pay can be raised up to $7 an hour which is 4-6 times the average monthly income of a typical person in Pakistan.

    “They’re really grateful to be working with me because of the money they make. They have a great income, I get a great employee — it’s a win win.”

    He, however, concluded the video keeping in mind the expected criticism;

    “Before you leave a comment, yes i have US based employees. Yes, they make way more than $4 an hour. I’m just saying for this specific task, I pay a Pakistani assistant $4 an hour and they are very appreciative of it.”

    While some appreciated his work, many have criticised him for exploiting people from developing countries by paying them less than those from developed countries.

  • British retailer Boohoo probes Pakistan suppliers for ‘underpaying’

    British retailer Boohoo probes Pakistan suppliers for ‘underpaying’

    British online fashion group Boohoo is under fire for allegedly exploiting Pakistani workers. The brand said on Wednesday that it is investigating a Guardian report that its suppliers were underpaying workers in Pakistan.

     The Guardian reported that employees at two factories in Faisalabad making clothes for Boohoo were earning Rs10,000, or £47 ($62) per month that is below the legal monthly minimum wage for unskilled labour of Rs17,500.

    The report added that it had video and photographic evidence to support the claims of potential safety issues such as parking of the motorbikes in the indoor areas next to flammable materials. In the rush to produce clothes for the western market, insiders claimed workers would sometimes do 24-hour shifts.

    Responding to the allegations, Boohoo said it had called upon inspection and compliance specialists Bureau Veritas to probe the claims on the ground in Faisalabad.

    “As we have previously stated, we will not tolerate any instance of mistreatment or underpayment of garment workers,” Boohoo added in a statement.

    Earlier this year, Boohoo has been accused that one of its suppliers in England paid workers much less than the national minimum wage.

    “Any supplier who does not treat their workers with the respect they deserve has no place in the Boohoo supply chain,” its statement added.

    Another factory whose working conditions are criticised in the report, Madina Gloves, strongly refuted the allegations.

    “The situation on the ground is completely different. The reporter never visited my factory and I challenge him to bring forward a single quote from the workers of the factory. I am considering taking him to the court,” the owner Muhammad Saleem Shahzad told AFP.

    Shahzad added that since the article had published, he had already received calls from three different UK clients to cancel orders.

    “I want to ask what service this report has done to my employees who are going to lose their job now?”

    The Guardian report comes after Boohoo in November appointed Brian Leveson to help “deliver long-lasting and meaningful change” to the group’s supply chain and its business practices.

    Leveson is best known for heading a 2012 inquiry into UK media standards following the hacking of celebrities’ phones by the now-closed News of the World tabloid, which was owned by Rupert Murdoch.