Labour pains

Contract workers protest against the injustices inherent in contract work

Four days after the collapse of Rajput Polymers at Sundar Industrial Estate, as rescue workers wrapped up the operation, Ishfaq sat outside still looking for his brother. “We have been to all the hospitals and morgues but there is no sign of him,” he says.

His older brother Muhammad Naveed came to work at the factory over a year ago with their maternal uncle Muhammad Mustafa. Mustafa was a contractor at the factory and had recruited 12 boys from their village near Lodhran. “They were like his sons and he would never want anything bad to happen to them,” he says. Ishfaq is accompanied by other people from the village as well, who have come to help him locate the boys. They found his uncle earlier in the hospital. “One of his eyes has been wounded and he is unconscious due to a head wound,” he informs.

The columns of Rajput Polymers at the Sundar Industrial Estate gave away on November 4 and the roof of the dilapidated building collapsed. PHOTO: AFP

When the factory collapsed there were almost 200 people working in it. The government estimated it to be 150. The exact number is unknown since only 40 employees were registered with the labour department and were given social security protection. Unregistered employees, such as the 12 boys from Lodhran, were brought there through contractors and no formal record of their presence is available other than registers found amongst the debris. Among them were children, as old as 12, whose bodies were also recovered from the rubble.

The collapse of the factory has laid bare the exploitation of workers that takes place at industrial estates established by the government. The factory building was unsafe to work in and ledgers revealed workers on contract were being paid Rs200 per day, violating minimum wage, and had no set working hours.

Muhammad Hanif, who had two cousins working in the factory, says the columns supporting the building had been sinking since before the earthquake and the workers had been afraid the columns would not be able to support its weight anymore. He adds each day before sleeping the workers would mark the pillars, and each morning the mark would recede further into the ground.

A rescuer uses an excavator to remove rubble of the collapsed factory. PHOTO: AFP

“The workers protested three days before the collapse, they had even asked their friends in surrounding factories to look for other jobs in the area,” says Hanif. They had gone to the Sundar Industrial Management Board to lodge a complaint with authorities, he reveals. “This is all they could do,” he says.

This sentiment is voiced by workers for whom the factory collapse site has become a gathering point. Collecting there during breaks they say it is unjust that the poor and down trodden working class suffers due to ignorance of officers. “There is no law here,” says Feroze Ahmed Baloch, a worker at one of the factories in the Sundar Industrial Estate. “The Sundar industrial management office is right next to it (collapse site). Did they not see what was going on?” he questions.

The workers point largely to the system of contractual labour, which they believe is exploitative. “The workers are not given any proof of employment and can be fired at any time,” says Hanif. This becomes a hindrance for them to demand for rights to unionise, they say. If a factory owner finds out, they will fire the worker and no one wants to risk unemployment, adds Hanif.

Child labour is also rampant in the estate. Feroze says, “Come here at any time and you will see a lot of children in the area.” Children work in smaller units on the estate since nobody monitors them, he shares.

The estate is rife with workers suffering due to a lack of implementation of laws. Amongst them are Muhammad Boota and Ghulam Farid, two people who have spent their lives working as contract labourers. “I spent 15 years working in a factory but when I was given the final letter it said 14 years and 10 months,” says Boota. He cannot claim any pension through Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution until he can show 15 years of experience. “I have pleaded my case to the owner of the factory and to government officials as well but no one is ready to listen,” he says.

Army officials and rescue workers give water to the survivor pulled out from under the debris. PHOTO: PPI

For Farid, the situation is different. He worked for three months at a factory in the estate that was shut down. The workers were not paid for the work they did during this time and have no formal letters or paperwork to prove they worked there. “Who should we ask for the money? The factory owner locked the place and is not around anymore,” says Farid. He roams the area every day on a bicycle looking for work, but so far has not been able to find any. “I don’t even have the money to go to Lahore,” he says. The estate is roughly 37km from the city centre.

Labour rights activists agree that contractual labour is the root of such problems; it prevents unionisation, which in turn curtails the labourers’ power to bargain collectively or have access to institutions that will provide them with legal aid. “This is a loophole in the system through which employers have disorganised workers and taken away their rights,” says Niaz Khan, a veteran labour rights activist and general secretary of the National Trade Union Federation.

The government also stood with the mill owners and contributed fully in the oppression of the workers, says Khan. “The employer does not give any proof of employment to contract labourers or labour hired through a third party. Such labour is not registered and are, therefore, practically devoid of all labour rights, such as job security, social security, medical allowances, pension, minimum wage and overtime,” explains Khan, sighting numerous examples from his time as a union leader where employers had used contract labour to manipulate workers. “Unions educated the workers about their rights, acted as watchdogs of workers and as pressure groups. But the factory owners in connivance with the government have made them dysfunctional and introduced pocket unions,” adds Khan. He believes contract labourers are deprived of union rights, such as the right to vote in Collective Bargaining Agent elections. “Any worker who participated in union activities was awarded an exemplary punishment,” says Khan.

In the last two months alone, more than five industrial accidents have taken place in which more than 100 workers died in Punjab, says Khan. On September 4, five workers died when the roof of a jeans factory collapsed in Lahore. On September 5, 28 workers died in an explosion in a ghee factory in Gujranwala. Five workers died when a boiler exploded in a factory in Faisalabad. Three more were killed working in mines. More than 50 people died in Rajput Poly on November 5. Five laborers were burnt alive in an explosion of an oil tank in Haidri Steel Mill in Braki, Lahore. And more than 150 people were harmed when ammonia gas leaked in a cold storage facility.

“These incidents clearly show that there is a lack of implementation of policy,” he says.

Rescue workers remove a victim from the rubble on November 4, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

The 2013 Supreme Court decision, however, directing Fauji Fertilizer to reinstate 112 labourers sacked 22 years ago and to pay them their outstanding dues, was the first decisive victory for contractual labourers. Abid Hassan Minto, a senior Supreme Court advocate and Central President of Awami Workers Party, was one of the lawyers in the case. “Before this, there were various other decisions, some on the side of the workers while others sided with employees,” says Minto. In all future cases though, this decision will hold, he says.

Despite this, Minto says, a large number of violations still take place. “This is largely because of social perceptions that continue to exist despite legal structures.” The labour department through standing orders also clearly specify time period for inspections, he says. “These differ for industries; so, a standard time limit is not set,” he adds.

The labour department accepts this responsibility. Javed says, contractual workers have the same rights as registered employees. “However, the industry over the past few years has seen a mushroom growth with small factories opening up in houses as well.” This, he says, has become a hindrance. “We have a limited capacity and most of these unregistered units cannot be monitored. From the outside, it looks like a house but when you go inside, it turns out to be a small industrial unit producing something like shoes,” he adds. According to Javed, this is where violations of the law are most rampant.

The picture painted by workers though shows exploitation at all levels and in all places, be it smaller units or larger factories. In the words of Baloch, “This government does not think of us; no one cares about the poor man on the street.”

Amel Ghani is a Lahore-based reporter for
The Express Tribune.

Muhammad Shahzad is a Lahore-based reporter for The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, January 10^th, 2016.