Bonded labour: Workers demand enforcement of labour laws

Hundreds of brick-kiln workers stage protest demonstration in front of Labour Department office to press their demand.

FAISALABAD:

Hundreds of brick-kiln workers and their supporters on Saturday staged a protest demonstration in front of the Labour Department office to press their demand for a raise in wages.

Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM) leader Abdul Lateef told the media that the government had passed labour laws but they had not been enforced.

“The government had fixed the wages of kiln workers at Rs740 for 1,000 bricks… no brick maker is paying this wage to its workers… they [kiln owners] are threatening labourers who are demanding the wages fixed by the government,” he said.

Lateef said the government should immediately take notice of the matter. He alleged that the Labour Department and the police were not enforcing the notification.

He said the kiln workers would stage country-wide protests if their demands were not met by February 12.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2014.