Pakistan's factory workers swelter in extreme heat as global brands fail on safety pledges

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Machines whirred around Siddiqui as her vision blurred and her heart hammered.

The garment factory on the outskirts of Karachi was sweltering. The room was packed with sweating fellow workers and huge industrial equipment that radiated heat. The air felt thick with the humidity of this summer's monsoon.

Siddiqui, who The Associated Press is identifying only by surname because she fears retaliation by her employer, felt like she was suffocating. Concerned co-workers called over her supervisor.

“The supervisor said, ‘Just complete this work,’” Siddiqui, 28, told The Associated Press. “Suddenly darkness came before my eyes.”

Exhausted by the heat, she collapsed.

Extreme heat — intensified by climate change — is creating dangerous conditions for factory workers in Pakistan. From blue jeans to homeware, these factories produce goods for global companies that have pledged to protect workers’ safety. But experts and labor rights advocates say those promises remain unfulfilled, as temperatures rise and workers pay the price with their health and safety.

The AP interviewed more than a dozen workers in Karachi, all of whom described scorching workplaces, absent heat protocols and negative health effects, including fainting. They spoke on the condition that their identities be protected out of fear of retaliation by their employers. All but one said they lost wages when heat-related illness forced them to miss work. Ten of the workers made goods for global brands sold in the United States and Europe.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

For workers like Siddiqui, extreme heat — temperatures at or above 32.2 C (90 F) combined with high humidity — isn't just a workplace hazard.

Living with her six children in a small room with no air conditioning on the outskirts of Karachi, temperatures routinely exceed 37.8 C (100 F) during heat waves.

Inside the garment factory where she stitches clothes for Spanish brands like Zara and Mango, it’s even hotter. Huge machines churn heat into the air. There are fans, but they're often broken or small. Windows are slitlike and set high, or even closed to deter theft, further trapping the heat, workers told AP.

"Smoke, heat, you face it," said a 34-year-old male factory worker.

Extreme heat is a silent killer: It can show few outward symptoms while causing severe internal damage and worsening conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and asthma. Studies have linked it to dehydration, heatstroke, organ failure and death.

“The longer you work in the heat, the less that you’re protected from it and the health risks rise,” said Andreas Flouris, the founder of FAME Lab, which researches heat's impact on health.

The number of people exposed to extreme heat is growing exponentially due to climate change. Heat stress is a leading cause of weather-related deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Studies by World Weather Attribution say that climate change has also drastically increased the frequency, intensity and risks of extreme heatwaves in Pakistan.

Workers interviewed by AP described temporary muscle paralysis, swollen limbs, blood pressure swings, breathing problems, blurred vision and exhaustion that peaked in the hottest months. One worker showed scaly skin rashes on her arms from routine chemical exposure, saying how the pain intensified during summer.

All said they'd seen co-workers faint from the heat. Several said they'd fainted themselves, some multiple times. Those who fainted were often only offered a short break or sugary drink before being told to resume work.

They said complaining to supervisors led to no changes.

Only one worker had paid sick leave. The rest told AP that missed hours — even from fainting on the job or from heat-related illnesses — meant slashed wages.

Siddiqui wept on the floor of her home as she described fainting and being sent to the hospital. Earning 15,000 Pakistani rupees ($54) a month, the hospital visit cost, which her employer refused to pay, left her unable to buy food for her children.

“Sometimes they eat one meal, sometimes they don’t eat a meal,” she said, adding that the younger children sometimes cry from hunger. “The older ones have gotten used to it.”

There are simple, scalable and economically feasible measures factories can take to protect their workers from extreme heat, including accurately measuring temperature and humidity inside workplaces, providing cold drinking water and allowing workers breaks, said Flouris.

Other solutions include installing barriers to block radiant heat from machinery, installing quality ventilation and cooling systems and painting rooftops white to deflect sunlight.

“We’re talking about some very simple strategies,” he said.

Factory workers told AP that almost none of these measures were taken in their workplaces.

Several workers said their factories’ metal roofs make the summer heat unbearable, yet they receive no extra water or breaks.

All the workers said there were no heat sensors installed. Only one worker said a ventilation system was installed at their workplace, but that it was only turned on when auditors visited the factory for inspection. The workers said water was provided by their employers, but that it was rarely cold and they weren't sure if it was clean.

“Sometimes it smells like dead rats," said the 34-year-old male worker.

Pakistan has national and provincial laws as well as constitutional protections meant to shield workers from such conditions, said Farhan Haider, a program manager at the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research in Karachi.

Some companies supplied by the factories, including Inditex—Zara's parent company— and Mango have signed legally binding agreements to protect workers or have their own company safety pledges.

The most concrete is the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, which in 2025 announced it would treat heat as a workplace safety risk and develop heat stress protocols, which are under review but not yet in effect.

Representatives from the Pakistan Accord, a country-specific safety program that operates as an extension of the broader International Accord, did not reply to a request for interview or comment.

Brands have a responsibility to ensure their suppliers are held accountable for worker safety, including extreme heat, said Cara Schulte, a researcher at Climate Rights International who published a report in 2025 about worker conditions in Pakistan.

In an email to AP, a spokesperson from Inditex said the company is strengthening efforts to address heat stress in its supply chain through updated factory audits, guidance and training for suppliers and collaboration with industry initiatives. A spokesperson for Mango called worker health and safety a “non-negotiable priority,” citing their supplier code of conduct, which was “strengthened this year to explicitly address extreme temperatures and heat stress.”

A government spokesperson for Sindh province, where Karachi is located, acknowledged implementation remains an issue.

"The government is making efforts to enforce these regulations, but given the province’s vast size and the presence of numerous industrial zones, complaints are inevitable,” said Sadia Javed, who is also a member of the Provincial Assembly.

For workers like Siddiqui, complaints remain ignored as temperatures continue to rise.

"If you feel too unwell, (supervisors) say, ‘This is an everyday problem. Women cry and complain a lot, but the work still must be done,''' she said.

Associated Press video journalist Muhammad Farooq, reporter Adil Jawad and freelance journalist Pernia Mubashir contributed to this story. AP reporter Anton L. Delgado contributed to this report from Bangkok.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Shipping containers are visible at a port in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

A man takes a photo of a poster with safety resources for factory workers at a Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research office in Karachi, Pakistan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Workers arrange pots at a clay factory on a hot day in Karachi, Pakistan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

A factory worker shows her arm with damage she believes to be from routine chemical exposure in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Siddiqui, who The Associated Press is identifying by surname only because of potential retaliation from her employer, shows her embroidery work that she does for extra income in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Workers stitch clothes at a factory with fans in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Vivek Ramaswamy ’s team confirmed late Tuesday that it produced a controversial advertisement featuring the estranged mother of Amy Acton, and the campaign said it will spend $4 million to broadcast it despite facing bipartisan rebuke for dredging up the painful childhood of his Democratic opponent in Ohio’s governor’s race.

Acton, who has made no secret of facing homelessness and sexual abuse as a child, had spent the day pushing back forcefully against the content of the video, whose origins were initially murky. In it, her birth mother Donna Arthur calls her “a liar” and insinuates she has mental health issues.

The ad began circulating overnight, just two weeks before Election Day. Acton, Ohio's former public health director, is in a tight race against Vivek Ramaswamy, a Trump-backed biotech billionaire and 2024 presidential candidate who has benefited from spending on his behalf that has exceeded $120 million.

The online ad, which first surfaced in a post by an Ohio political blogger, spread quickly across social media platforms. It did not include the “paid for” tag that is legally required to air on TV so viewers can know who produced and paid for it. D.J. Brynes, who blogs as “The Rooster,” told CNN he got the video from a voter who viewed it as part of a poll and recorded it.

Connie Luck, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy's campaign, said Acton's mother was not paid for the one-minute spot. She said the ad will air both online and on TV in the closing days of the campaign.

All day Tuesday, Acton condemned Ramaswamy for the ad, already suspecting her opponent was behind the attack.

“I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I’m complaining about, who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse," she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.

She said Ramaswamy was accused of similar personal attacks during his run for the GOP presidential nomination: “This is a lifelong pattern with my opponent.”

Ramaswamy’s campaign initially issued a statement that did not address if he was responsible for the ad or knew who produced it. In the statement, Luck said Acton “has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of.”

In a statement released by Acton's campaign, her brother, Philip Stearns, said the two were removed from their mother Donna Arthur's custody as children after their stepfather, Arthur's husband, was indicted for raping Acton as a child. Acton has not seen Arthur, whose last known address was in Pennsylvania, since they were in a courtroom together in 1978.

Later Tuesday, the Acton campaign released a response ad featuring Stearns, who recalls his older sister taking “the worst” of the abuse they faced as children in order to protect him and disparages Ramaswamy and his allies for exploiting the situation.

According to police and court documents obtained by The Associated Press, Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, in July 1978, after Acton's biological father reported his alleged conduct to authorities. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978.

Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty. He was indicted by a grand jury that September, but failed to show at a court hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. He has since died.

High-profile Republicans who back Ramaswamy — including Donald Trump Jr. and influencer Laura Loomer — elevated the video in online posts.

But other Republicans joined Democrats in condemning the ad. Meghan McCain called it “dastardly” and Dan Hauser, a strategist for Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, said he deleted his retweet of the ad once he realized “the very serious accusations that caused their issues.”

The Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Ohio, Sherrod Brown, described the spot as “disgusting” and said everyone — including his opponent, Sen. Jon Husted — should be willing to condemn it. Husted's campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Acton's mother does not mention Ramaswamy's name in the ad, but she suggests that Acton has misrepresented her opponent and the time her family was homeless and living in a tent when she was a child — an experience Stearns corroborates.

Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump listens as gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign rally at the Covelli Centre, in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)