Labour leaders demand workplace safety, minimum wage

At a protest on Monday labour leaders demanded the immediate implementation of the minimum wages announced by the government and workplace safety standards.

A number of workers, trade unions leaders and human rights activists joined the demonstration jointly organised by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and HomeBased Women Workers Federation (HBWWF).

NTUF leaders Riaz Abbasi, Comrade Gul Rehman, HBWWF General Secretary Zahra Khan, and Ali Enterprises Factory Fire Affectees Association (AEFFAA) Chairperson Saeeda Khatoon led the protest. NTUF Secretary General Nasir Mansoor said that 95 per cent of employers are involved in the crime of not paying the minimum wages to their workers, but sadly the government departments concerned remain silent spectators.

“Employers do not pay the minimum wages, irrespective of the fact if the minimum wages are Rs10,000 or Rs25000 per month,” Mansoor said. This shows their mala-fide intentions towards workers, as well as, their disrespect to the law of land. He added that on one hand the employers exploit their workers and compel them to work on meagre wages from Rs10,000 to Rs14,000 per month and on the other hand they refuse to improve working conditions in their factories and industries.

The employers try to maximise their profits and wealth by exploiting their workers to produce surplus value. Unbridled by any checks by the law, the capitalists have made their factories and workplaces death chambers for the workers. Mansoor said that no action was taken against the owners and the negligent officers of the Labour Department after the fire in which 260 workers were burnt alive at the Ali Enterprises factory in Balidia Town in 2012.

Most of the casualties were caused due to the absence of fire escape, sealed windows, single and locked gates, he reminded. “Now we see that the persons responsible for the death of 16 workers in the Mehran Town factory fire case have not been arrested and no action has been taken against them,” the labour leader said.

He said that the labour organisations think it is impossible for Pakistan to become a progressive industrialised country without giving due rights to labourers as per the law and Constitution and international agreements and standards. Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali said that Pakistan is getting incentives from the European Union under GSP-plus. It calls for implementation of ILO labour standards, but practically the open violation of these agreements and conventions has been continuing.

Sadly, the countries of the EU are criminally ignoring the open violations of these labour standards, while the ILO is also cooperating with the industrialists who are openly defying the local and international labour laws. People Labour Bureau Habibuddin Junaidi said that more than 20 million more people have gone beneath the poverty line in the last two years due to anti-people policies of the sitting government.

About 15 million workers have lost their jobs fully or partially. It was the need of the hour to give more employment opportunities to citizens but sadly due to a court order, more than 16,000 government employees were sacked with a stroke of pen. Democratic Workers Union of State Bank leader Liaquat Sahi said that if the present inflation rate is taken into account, the minimum wage of a labourer should be at least Rs40,000 per month, besides the free of cost social security and old age pension.

“However,” Sahi said, “our industrialists are not ready to get the employees registered with Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI) and Employees Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI). The SESSI and EOBI employees support the industrialists and employers in this illegal act. The crimes of factory owners are not just limited to this but they also compel their workers to work in dangerous working conditions which are totally against the local laws and international health and safety standards.

Resultantly, the incidents at the workplaces are increasing sharply. HBWWF Secretary General Zehra Khan said as per a conservative estimate in Pakistan 41 out of every 1,000 workers face industrial mishaps, which means that every year more than 3,000,000 workers get injured in the industrial incidents.

However, there is no proper data about the death of workers in workplace mishaps. In these circumstances it has become necessary to ink an accord like the Bangladesh accord to improve the working conditions. She warned the government and industrialists to stop physical and economic murder of workers. She urged the courts not to provide opportunities to the government to sack more employees.

Speakers in the protest warned that if the present behavior of violation of law and Constitution and labour rights as per international standards and agreements is not stopped, the workers would have no choice but to launch a resistance movement. The participants of the protest also demanded to arrest the accused of Mehran Town factory fire and give a compensation of Rs2.5 million to every bereaved family, besides lifelong pension and other perks as per law.

They called for a modernised labour inspection process to ensure safety at workplaces. They demanded from the elected representatives to ensure immediate reinstitution of 16,000 sacked employees by chalking out a joint strategy in Parliament. They asked for a “Pakistan Accord” for the safety of workers and to stop the growing industrial mishaps in Pakistan and under which all local and international companies and brands should be made bound to implement labour laws and health and safety standards.

Those spoke included Gul Rahman and Riaz Abbadi of NTUF, Khizr Qazi of HRCP, Saeeda Khatoon of Association of the Affectees of Baldia factory fire, Saira Feroz of United HBWs Union, Ashghar Dasti intellectual, Aqib Hussain, Owais Jatoi and others