Rights of informal workers

The plight of workers working in the informal sector in Pakistan is no hidden secret. However, this bit of information is still sure to leave one flabbergasted — women who make glass bangles at home are paid a measly sum of Rs5 for 300 pieces by their thrifty employers and middlemen. The result is that they also end up engaging their children in the tedious job, robbing them of their childhood as they help their mothers make ends meet. But their case is far from unique. Life is no less bitter for similarly disadvantaged informal workers sweating it out in other sectors. This cycle of exploitation goes on unchecked and unchallenged, remaining largely invisible to public scrutiny. The country’s labour laws do not afford them protection. On top of this, as emerged in a recent session of the Senate Standing Committee of Law and Justice, there is reluctance among officials to ratify International Labour Organisation conventions regarding rights of informal workers as once that’s done, there will be pressure to implement international labour laws and a failure to do so can result in penalties for Pakistan.

While it is true that tracking down informal workers, registering them and then keeping track of the conditions they work in will not be an easy endeavour, that shouldn’t mean that the government allows the rights of these workers to be trampled upon with impunity. As it is, being informally employed means that workers are too scattered and disorganised to have their voices heard. The Home Based Women Workers Foundation told the Senate panel that there are some eight million workers working in the informal sector, and of these there are 1.2 million women who work from homes, but the formula of minimum wage is not applied on them and neither are they provided with basic healthcare by their employers nor do they have the right to form associations. The plight of informal workers must not be ignored. The government needs to set up mechanisms to monitor their plight and punish infringements.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2016.

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