Conflict Brewing at Lipton Tea in Pakistan

This action has expired

Workers at a Unilever tea factory in Pakistan are protesting the company’s refusal to provide permanent jobs and contracts for their employees.

The Unilever tea factory in Khanewal, in the Punjab province, employs 750 workers who package tea for Brook Bond and Lipton tea brands. But temporary workers dominate the factory—just 22 are permanently employed.

The rest are hired through contract labor agencies. They lack the right to join the Unilever union, and have fewer benefits and lower wages than permanent workers.

Temporary is a misleading term for these tea packers. Most have been working at the factory for decades, and some as many as 30 years. The country’s labor law says that they should have been granted permanent employment after nine months on the job.

Unilever Pakistan’s cost-cutting tactics are not unique to the Lipton tea factory. In Unilever factories across the country, the company employs about 8,000 workers, and grants only 371 permanent jobs.

The temporary workers in Khanewal have formed a worker committee to fight this, and are filing petitions with Pakistan’s Labor Court.

Support them by demanding that temporary workers gain the permanent employment they deserve. Letters of protest can be sent to Naila Ismail, corporate relations manager, Unilever Pakistan Ltd, Avari Plaza, Fatima Jinnah Road, PO Box 220, Karachi 75530, Pakistan.

Messages of solidarity can be sent to and .