On 21st March, renowned activist, speaker and currently a professor at Forman Christian College Lahore, Dr. Ammar Ali Jan accused Generation and Limelight of firing their workers on the 1st of April.
Workers in Limelight & Generation were told they will be fired on 1st April. Workers' financial situation is already DIRE!
Firing workers during crisis is shameful. Punjab govt must ensure job security & #BasicIncomeNOW or we will face riots in midst of #CoronavirusPandemic.
— Ammar Ali Jan (@ammaralijan) March 21, 2020
A video ProperGaanda received, reportedly shows an employee working in the clothing giant’s factory telling stating that they are going to be fired on the 1st of April. The worker further continues and complains of zero precautions taken by the factory owners in making sure the place is safe and clean to work in. Especially considering the COVID-19 outbreak.
The clothing brand Generation released a statement via its Twitter on the 21st of March.
On the 22nd of March, the company issued another statement regarding the closure of the factory. Generation claims that they’ve paid their workers for the two weeks that the factory will remain closed.
Generation also reached out to ProperGaanda and provided pictures which negate that the initial video referred to their factory. Since then, the Haqooq e Khalq movement has also stated that the video did in fact not refer to Generation.
The store brands are claiming they did not fire the workers- that it was a necessary and difficult decision to halt production for a while.
Hear the words of this Limelight worker who was abandoned abruptly and brutally in this pandemic. pic.twitter.com/5EDBh9NFvW
— Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (@Haqooq_e_Khalq) March 22, 2020