"I am extremely disturbed that workers in some of the world’s most profitable companies – in one of the richest countries on earth – are struggling to afford to eat or pay their rent,” said Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

“Multi-billion dollar companies should be setting the standard for working conditions and wages, not violating the human rights of their workers by failing to pay them a decent wage,” De Schutter said.