Pakistan: Hundreds of garment workers owed 4-months+ wages left destitute after Missguided collapse
"Pakistani garment workers left destitute and starving after Missguided collapse", 12 June 2022
Hundreds of garment workers in Pakistan making clothing for collapsed fast fashion brand Missguided say they have been left destitute and starving after not receiving salaries for more than four months.
The workers, who typically earn between £100 and £160 a month, say that despite not being paid they have continued working even as the Manchester-based retailer went into administration, with suppliers claiming the company owes them millions of pounds for clothing already completed and shipped.
In Faisalabad, one of Pakistan’s textile heartlands, workers at the Bismillah factory have been exclusively making clothes for Missguided since 2017. Amna Rani, 21, the sole earner for her extended family, says she has not received a salary since January and has been reduced to begging her neighbours for bread to feed her younger brothers and sisters...
Rani said that last week, after months of working without pay, she was fired along with hundreds of her co-workers when they were told by factory management that Missguided had not paid its invoices.
Another employee, Muhammad Irfan, said that many workers were suffering from severe depression after not receiving their salaries...
“They never told me they were facing a financial crisis, Missguided kept us in the dark,” claims Nadeem Siddique, the owner of the Bismillah factory. “[In the past few months] we have shipped hundreds of thousands of pieces of clothing that they ordered and thousands more are stuck in our storerooms and port to be shipped. We have not got a single dollar for these clothes. We have no other option than to fire workers.”...
“Missguided, co-owner Alteri, and the appointed administrators must urgently take action to ensure that workers in Pakistan and elsewhere are paid their wages,” said Meg Lewis, campaigns lead at the Clean Clothes Campaign.
Teneo Financial Advisory, which has been appointed by Missguided to oversee its administration, declined to comment.