"Report: Silenced – How wage “compliance” is failing workers in Pakistan", 23 June 2026

[...]

This report demonstrates how unequal power dynamics, combined with the routine devaluation of worker testimony, systematically exclude workers from the very processes theoretically designed to protect them. Efforts from brands to identify and remedy labour rights abuses are too often constrained by a focus on doing the bare minimum to comply with local labour laws and an overreliance on auditing models that fail to meaningfully engage with workers...Their stories are systematically excluded from due diligence processes...

this report presents findings from a survey of 255 garment workers employed across 8 factories in Pakistan producing for global fashion brands. The results reveal widespread and systemic violations of local laws relating to wages, contracts, overtime and social security, alongside a culture of intimidation and control that...discourages workers from speaking out...

...trade union engagement through collective bargaining and Community-Based Monitoring...offer an alternative way to ensure that worker experiences contribute towards identifying risks and achieving meaningful remedy beyond audits to provide ongoing feedback mechanisms.

However, community-based monitoring must not be coopted as a way to avoid employers’ fundamental responsibility to uphold freedom of association...