When Danilo* tore open his first pay slip at his new job, the amount staring back at him was just six dollars. This was his pay for a whole month working as a warehouse caretaker.

It was 2007, and Danilo had begun his two-year contract on the secretive US military base known as Diego Garcia, located on a small island in the Indian Ocean.

This paltry salary was because of hiring costs he was made to pay to his new employer upon starting his job for the US military and the remittance he was required by contract to send to his family in the Philippines.

'Six dollars was all I got to spend before my next payday. Dang!' he says. 'Who would be happy with that?'

Things did not improve throughout his years on Diego Garcia. Five years later his total annual earnings for 2012 stood near to USD$2,200, according to pay-slips seen by the New Internationalist. In 2015, his monthly earnings were around $450 per month, for working a minimum of nine hours per day, six days per week. This works out at about $2 per hour.