ISLAMABAD: An investigation by an international media outlet has revealed that Boohoo, one of Britain’s best-known fast fashion brands, was selling clothes made by Pakistani factory workers who earned as little as 29 pence an hour.
The investigation — published in the Guardian newspaper this week and based on interviews in the industrial city of Faisalabad — revealed that workers at two factories claimed they were paid Rs10,000 a month, well below the legal monthly minimum wage for unskilled labor of Rs17,500, while making clothes to be sold by Boohoo. Insiders claimed workers would sometimes do 24-hour shifts.
The factories have denied any wrongdoing and said workers were paid in accordance with local laws.
But one of more than a dozen workers interviewed by the Guardian said: “I know we are exploited and paid less than the legal minimum, but we can’t do anything … if I leave the job another person will be ready to replace me.”
After the Guardian approached Boohoo about the findings, the company suspended a supplier, JD Fashion Ltd, and a factory, AH Fashion, from its supply chain while it investigated the claims.
Another factory, Madina Gloves, denied workers’ claims that it had recently been making clothes for Boohoo. AH Fashion, which is closed for construction work, acknowledged it had fulfilled an order for the brand as recently as October.
Boohoo said it “will not tolerate any instance of mistreatment or underpayment of garment workers”. It said it was unaware of its clothes being made at Madina Gloves, and that AH Fashion was not on its approved supplier list for JD for an order delivered to the UK on 11 December.
While Boohoo’s code of conduct for suppliers sets out a list of minimum standards to be met by manufacturers of its clothes anywhere in the world, workers in two factories based in the Samanabad area of Faisalabad alleged that:
“While some are paid the legal minimum wage, others say they earn far less and receive no receipt or payslip to record their income. At Madina Gloves, which manufactures a range of clothes, workers are often ordered to work unreasonably long shifts without full overtime pay, stretching to 24 hours straight before major deadlines. Accommodation provided by Madina Gloves is squalid and one worker said they went without running water there for days at a time.”
Video footage seen by the Guardian appeared to show “potential fire risks at AH Fashion, including piles of fabric stacked up in walkways and near a boiler, and one clip showing motorbikes parked inside next to cardboard boxes.”
Pakistani workers making clothes for UK’s Boohoo earning 63 rupees an hour — report
https://arab.news/bceuq
Pakistani workers making clothes for UK’s Boohoo earning 63 rupees an hour — report
- The investigation was published in the Guardian newspaper this week and based on interviews in the industrial city of Faisalabad
- The factories making the clothes for Boohoo denied any wrongdoing and said workers were paid in accordance with local laws
Pakistan PM orders accelerated privatization of power sector to tackle losses
- Tenders to be issued for privatization of three major electricity distribution firms, PMO says
- Sharif says Pakistan to develop battery energy storage through public-private partnerships
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s prime minister on Monday directed the government to speed up privatization of state-owned power companies and improve electricity infrastructure nationwide, as authorities try to address deep-rooted losses and inefficiencies in the energy sector that have weighed on the economy and public finances.
Pakistan’s electricity system has long struggled with financial distress caused by a combination of factors including theft of power, inefficient collection of bills, high costs of generating electricity and a large burden of unpaid obligations known as “circular debt.” In the first quarter of the current financial year, government-owned distribution companies recorded losses of about Rs171 billion ($611 million) due to poor bill recovery and operational inefficiencies, official documents show. Circular debt in the broader power sector stood at around Rs1.66 trillion ($5.9 billion) in mid-2025, a sharp decline from past peaks but still a major fiscal drain.
Efforts to contain these losses have been a focus of Pakistan’s economic reform program with the International Monetary Fund, which has urged structural changes in the energy sector as part of financing conditions. Previous government initiatives have included signing a $4.5 billion financing facility with local banks to ease power sector debt and reducing retail electricity tariffs to support economic recovery.
“Electricity sector privatization and market-based competition is the sustainable solution to the country’s energy problems,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at a meeting reviewing the roadmap for power sector reforms, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The meeting reviewed progress on privatization and infrastructure projects. Officials said tenders for modernizing one of Pakistan’s oldest operational hubs, Rohri Railway Station, will be issued soon and that the Ghazi Barotha to Faisalabad transmission line, designed to improve long-distance transmission of electricity, is in the initial approval stages. While not all power-sector decisions were detailed publicly, the government emphasized expanding private sector participation and completing priority projects to strengthen the electricity grid.
In another key development, the prime minister endorsed plans to begin work on a battery energy storage system with participation from private investors to help manage fluctuations in supply and demand, particularly as renewable energy sources such as solar and wind take a growing role in generation. Officials said the concept clearance for the storage system has been approved and feasibility studies are underway.
Government briefing documents also outlined steps toward shifting some electricity plants from imported coal to locally mined Thar coal, where a railway line expansion is underway to support transport of fuel, potentially lowering costs and import dependence in the long term.
State authorities also pledged to address safety by converting unmanned railway crossings to staffed ones and to strengthen food safety inspections at stations, underscoring broader infrastructure and service improvements connected to energy and transport priorities.
