Unilever's Khanewal factory employs

Unilever's Khanewal factory employs 22 permanent workers, union members who are covered by a collective agreement. But another 723 workers are hired through six contract labour agencies.

The small number of permanent workers receive a monthly base wage of PKR 18,000 - some USD 226. The basic wage for those providing disposable, "temporary" work is PKR 6,000 if they're lucky enough to work a minimum 26 days. Otherwise the daily wage is PKR 232 - less than three dollars a day. Where permanent workers receive double for overtime/holiday work, agency workers simply receive the basic hourly wage. Disposable workers have no annual or medical leave. From one week to the next, they do not know their assignments or work schedules - or whether they will have work.

The majority of these workers have worked for more than 10 years at the Khanewal factory, with an average of 15 years and some as long as 30 years. But since they're not formally employed by Unilever, they are barred from joining a union of Unilever workers and bargaining with Unilever as their employer.

All of these workers should by law have been granted permanent jobs as soon as they completed 9 months of continuous employment. More than a decade later - and in some cases three decades later - they are still contract agency workers. These workers should not only have permanent employment status in accordance with the law, but they should be directly employed by Unilever. The labour hire agencies supply labour exclusively to the Unilever Khanewal factory. The agencies hold bogus addresses in the nearby town but in reality operate their offices inside the Unilever factory itself.

Two Lipton workers dismissed in August after 30 years of working at Unilever's Khanewal tea factory at minimum wage received no social security, medical benefits or pension. Workers like these built the profits which allowed CEO Niall Fitzgerald to retire from Unilever in 2004 with a GBP 17 million golden handshake.