Stealing from the impoverished July 19, 2021 We hear too little about the fate of workers who toil in our factories and in other places. This is partially because we have lost the labour unions that once spoke for them to a large extent. In this context, the report by the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, a collective which campaigns for workers, has come up with important statistics that we should consider carefully and look at their impact on the garment industry in our country, as well as other Asian countries. The report says that Pakistani workers, notably women, have suffered the worst “wage theft” during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to data, 244,510 workers in over 50 factories in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad were deprived of some $85 million owed to them, on the pretext that the factories were not paid due to cancellation of already placed orders. The laying off of workers without wages resulted in grave hardships, notably for the most vulnerable workers. These lay-offs also led to more exploitation of children in the form of increased child labour increased, and created new difficulties within households.