Labour laws: For brick kiln workers, wages go down as working hours go up, complains union leader
Speakers agree it is shameful we are talking about slavery in this age.
Speakers agree it is shameful we are talking about slavery in this age. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
A union leader for brick kiln workers, Punho Bheel, was clearly unhappy with the daylong debates on various forms of bonded labour on Wednesday - he wanted to talk about facts. And these facts revealed a dismal picture.
“A labourer gets only Rs450 per day for making 1,000 bricks and for that he works from 5am to 9pm,” Bheel told a stunned audience at a National Policy Seminar on bonded labour at Regent Plaza. The seminar was organised by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child in collaboration with Actionaid and the European Union. “These rates and working hours are not fixed. The rates usually go down and working hours go up.”
Bheel went on to share his thoughts on the issue, and made sure he minced no words. We have been hearing for a long time that the CM or the top judge have done this or that for labourers but we have yet to receive any benefits of these announcements. “The prices of tomatoes have reached up to Rs200 and potatoes cost Rs100. How can one feed his family with such meagre earnings and high inflation?”
The hall erupted in applause as the audience packed with labourers, their families, schoolchildren, lawyers and many others agreed with his views, murmuring ‘wah Bheel wah’ [good job, Bheel]. “Can’t the ministers, whose children study in London, build a school for brick kiln workers at their kilns?” he wondered. “Can’t the ministers build hospitals for us?”
Bheel recalled his own experiences as a bonded labour and pointed out he knew very well the issues these workers and their families faced. “How can we send our children to schools in such conditions? During illness, we have to get ready to sell even our kidneys to earn money for our families. Can’t authorities do anything for us?”
The Sindh government has yet to fix minimum wages and working hours for brick kiln workers, he pointed out, adding that these workers have yet to receive some kind of social security cards. Bheel sought answers from other speakers and prominent personalities in the audiences. At the end of his speech, he uttered a simple “thank you for listening” and took his seat among the audience.
When Barrister Zamir Ghumro took the stage, he admitted that it is unfortunate that we are talking about slavery in the 21st century. Since the government was not providing employment, some people are forcing others to work for them, he said. “If anyone forces another person to work without his will, he can go to jail for two to five years, but this law has never been implemented.”
The rest of the speakers, including Sindh law minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sharmila Farooqi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Dr Seema Zia, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Irum Farooque, recommended adopting the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1992, with amendments to make it a practical law.
The speakers suggested forming a provincial steering committee on bonded labour to oversee the implementation of this law. All brick kilns must be registered and all their workers should be given social security cards, they said, adding that labour laws should be extended to the agriculture sector.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2013.
A union leader for brick kiln workers, Punho Bheel, was clearly unhappy with the daylong debates on various forms of bonded labour on Wednesday - he wanted to talk about facts. And these facts revealed a dismal picture.
“A labourer gets only Rs450 per day for making 1,000 bricks and for that he works from 5am to 9pm,” Bheel told a stunned audience at a National Policy Seminar on bonded labour at Regent Plaza. The seminar was organised by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child in collaboration with Actionaid and the European Union. “These rates and working hours are not fixed. The rates usually go down and working hours go up.”
Bheel went on to share his thoughts on the issue, and made sure he minced no words. We have been hearing for a long time that the CM or the top judge have done this or that for labourers but we have yet to receive any benefits of these announcements. “The prices of tomatoes have reached up to Rs200 and potatoes cost Rs100. How can one feed his family with such meagre earnings and high inflation?”
The hall erupted in applause as the audience packed with labourers, their families, schoolchildren, lawyers and many others agreed with his views, murmuring ‘wah Bheel wah’ [good job, Bheel]. “Can’t the ministers, whose children study in London, build a school for brick kiln workers at their kilns?” he wondered. “Can’t the ministers build hospitals for us?”
Bheel recalled his own experiences as a bonded labour and pointed out he knew very well the issues these workers and their families faced. “How can we send our children to schools in such conditions? During illness, we have to get ready to sell even our kidneys to earn money for our families. Can’t authorities do anything for us?”
The Sindh government has yet to fix minimum wages and working hours for brick kiln workers, he pointed out, adding that these workers have yet to receive some kind of social security cards. Bheel sought answers from other speakers and prominent personalities in the audiences. At the end of his speech, he uttered a simple “thank you for listening” and took his seat among the audience.
When Barrister Zamir Ghumro took the stage, he admitted that it is unfortunate that we are talking about slavery in the 21st century. Since the government was not providing employment, some people are forcing others to work for them, he said. “If anyone forces another person to work without his will, he can go to jail for two to five years, but this law has never been implemented.”
The rest of the speakers, including Sindh law minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sharmila Farooqi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Dr Seema Zia, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Irum Farooque, recommended adopting the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1992, with amendments to make it a practical law.
The speakers suggested forming a provincial steering committee on bonded labour to oversee the implementation of this law. All brick kilns must be registered and all their workers should be given social security cards, they said, adding that labour laws should be extended to the agriculture sector.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2013.