Schneider Electric sacked 17 workers in October 2016 for asking for a pay rise, and for permanent employment status. They were all contract workers, but they had worked for Schneider for between three and 12 years. According to the law they should be made permanent if they work for the same employer for more than nine months. As temporary workers they missed out on various benefits, and were on salaries of between USD 113 and USD 151.
One of the sacked workers, Waqas Riaz, said he received a termination letter on 10 October at his home address. He had been working at the company for almost two years. For the past few months, he and his colleagues had been asking management to make them permanent employees and increase their pay. The management refused to do so, and when the workers resisted and started campaigning more vigorously, they were fired.