CEOs pledge fair, not minimum, wages

Trade unionists, beware! A new kind of collective bargaining agent (CBA) is in town to replace you. As implausible as it may sound, it’s the CEO you’ve been haggling with for decades. The minimum wage is a thing of the past, says the new CBA. A full-time job is supposed to lift one out of poverty, not keep them there indefinitely. The latest catchword in the corporate world is fair living wage (FLW), an arbitrary-sounding figure of Rs51,500 a month (for 2022), which is about twice the minimum wage notified by some provincial governments. In 2020, Unilever Pakistan Ltd made a pledge, without external prodding, that each worker employed directly or otherwise must earn an FLW by 2030. The company is 60pc FLW compliant today. “We’ll be 100pc FLW compliant in the next 18 months,” said Unilever Pakistan CEO Amir Paracha at a recent roundtable conference held at the multinational’s offices. By the looks of it, the FLW movement is gaining traction in Pakistan. Big companies that’ve signed up for the cause include the likes of Bank Alfalah, Jazz, the Bank of Punjab, Careem and Foodpanda. Smaller companies, including start-ups, have also joined the roster.