From the frying pan: ‘Give us our due before you stop children from working’

Kiln workers say they haven’t received compensation for sending children to school

MULTAN/ LAHORE:

The provincial government has announced special benefits for brick kiln workers to wean them off. However, benefits of these policies aiming to uplift brick kiln workers have not yet reached kiln workers in Bhakkar, brick kiln workers protesting in front of the Bhakkar Press Club on Tuesday said. “The crackdown on child labour at brick kilns has left us even more destitute than before.”

Hundreds of brick kiln workers staged a demonstration demanding that the government implement its policies for the uplift of brick kiln workers in Bhakkar district. They were joined by their families.

The protesters shouted slogans against the Labour Department for ignoring their plight and read out the policies that they wanted implemented on priority. They held up banners and placards carrying a list of their demands.

“We want social security cards and free medical treatment at social security hospitals,” Muhammad Hashim, one of the protesters, said. “We are entitled to the benefits under law.”

The protesters said that none of the facilities they were entitled to had been extended to them.

Hashim said because of the non-implementation of government orders, the workers were faced with severe financial constraints. “Now, because our children are no longer allowed to work, our financial situation has worsened.”

Aslam Saleem, another kiln worker, said that his 10-year-old son had worked with him at the kiln and had shared the burden of expenses. “I cannot manage my household on my own.”

Kaleem Sadiq, another kiln worker, said that he was not happy with the law prohibiting children from working at brick kilns. He said that if his children couldn’t work at the brick kilns, the government should raise their wages. “The government is forcing our children to go to school…why does the government think we will manage to feed them,” he said. The cost of living has skyrocketed in recent years, Allah Ditta, another kiln worker said. “We barely manage to meet ends meet when our entire family works…we have been plunged into financial crisis by the new law.”

The protesters demanded that the Bhakkar DCO help facilitate them in getting free treatment from the Bhakkar Social Security Hospital.

Bhakkar District Labour Officer Zeeshan Sadiq visited the protest. He assured the workers that they would soon be able to enjoy the benefits they are entitled to. He told them that the workers would also get compensation in lieu of the restriction on child labour. “The idea to end child labour at brick kilns wasn’t to take away livelihood from workers but the advancement of society at large.”

Brick kiln workers in Dera Ghazi Khan, Vehari, Pakpattan, Vehari, Khanewal and Multan also staged similar protest demonstrations on Tuesday.

In Faisalabad, over 1,000 workers gathered at the DCO’s Office and walked till the Commissioner’s Office demanding that the government give workers the compensation they are entitled to under the Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Ordinance 2016.

Pakistan Bhatta Mazdoor Union leader Mehmood Butt told The Express Tribune that they were protesting against the government and brick kiln owners for depriving them from a source of livelihood. They said that the government had stopped their children from working at brick kilns but had not paid them the amount promised as compensation. “The government has promised Rs3,000 compensation for every child sent to school instead of kilns.” However, several brick kiln owners have shut down their operations over reservations against this law, Butt said. He said that under the law, brick kiln owners were bound to get workers at their kilns registered with the Social Security Department. “The documentation and registration process has them worried,” he said.   The law also states that the owners cannot give workers more than six months’ advance salary (paishgi) and the process will also be monitored by a labour inspector. Under the law, brick kiln owners are bound to pay the workers the minimum wage – Rs962/1,000bricks.

Butt said that the protesters were demanding that the government implement its policies in its entirety. “Simply removing children from brick kilns will only worsen the financial condition of brick kiln workers.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2016.