PILER
Welcomes Amendment in Services Tribunal Act and Repeal of Removal
from Services Order
Calls for Speedy Efforts to Fix Anomalies in
Labour Legislation and Law Implementation
Karachi,
March 06, 2010: The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research
has welcomed the government’s move to repeal the Removal from Services
(Special Powers) Ordinance 2000 and amend the Services Tribunal Act.
“These legislative measures should help in addressing anomalies in
the labour rights and legislative structure that have, over the years,
undermined the fundamental entitlements of workers in Pakistan. At
the same time, there are huge gaps in the rights structure pertaining
to labour, and the government is expected to expedite legislative
and institutional acts to cover these loopholes,” said Executive Director
PILER Mr Karamat Ali.
Mr Karamat Ali said that the two acts repealed and amended by the
Government address employees of government, and government-controlled
corporation services. “While these modifications are important to
ensure rights to government employees, there has been no move to compensate
the victims of these draconian laws, nor has the government made any
effort to extend similar protections to private sector employees.”
The PILER Executive Director also pointed out that the current government’s
pace on labour legislation is slow and demonstrates a non-committal
approach. “There are a large number of legislative, policy and institutional
measures undertaken by non-democratic governments in the last three
decades. These include denial of right to form association and right
to collective bargaining for an overwhelming majority of the working
population. As a result, less than 2% of workforce is unionized at
the moment. Similarly, Section 27-B in the Banking Companies Ordinance
1962 that prohibits a non-employee to hold the office in the executive
of a trade union, has severely curtailed the right of association
of workers in the banking sector. Regular inspection of factories
has been discontinued since Ziaul-Haq’s period, resulting in non compliance
with basic labour laws and severely compromising workers health and
safety.”
Mr Karamat Ali said that the democratic government has been in office
for two years now, and it is backed by popular mandate to carry out
reforms in the legislative and institutional structures to fix distortions
in labour rights. “Yet, this government has presented a disappointing
record of labour legislation. Neither the law-making exercise, nor
the law-implementation measures fit the standards of a balanced rights
and justice delivery system. No labour policy has been announced by
the government in the past two years. Even though the present government
has replaced the notorious Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002 with
the new Industrial Relations Act (IRA) 2008, the reservations of trade
unions and rights bodies regarding the IRA, including the non-consultative
manner of its formulation, was never addressed. The IRA is set to
lapse next month, but there has been no indication from the government
to keep its pledge of replacing it with a better law. No tripartite
consultation on labour legislation and policy issues has been carried
out. The one held in February 2009 lacked a broad-based character
and remained restricted in its scope and mandate. Out of total labour
force of over 50 million in Pakistan, only 6.62 million workers benefit
from the formal social protection schemes of any form. In the last
few years, child labour and bonded labour has registered an increase,
while the rural-based labour force continues to stay outside the ambit
of legal protections. The Government’s policy of minimum wage too
remains unimplemented in 90 percent of the cases where workers receive
abysmally low salaries in the face of spiraling inflation, pushing
a large number of people below the poverty line every day.”
Mr Karamat Ali stressed that Pakistan is a signatory to ILO Conventions
and has an obligation to adhere to the core ILO Conventions and the
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in legislation
and policy-making. “The sluggish pace demonstrated by the government
in implementing the ILO Conventions in letter and spirit is deeply
disappointing.”
The PILER Executive Director called for repeal of the Section 27-B
in the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962, and the reformulation of
the IRA. He also urged the government to compensate the victims of
unjust labour policies. “Absence of legislation on rural labour is
further alienating the vulnerable sections of the society, while non-implementation
of policy measures on child labour and bonded labour compromises their
status in the social order. The Government should now launch a formal
labour policy and demonstrate serious commitment to carrying out institutional
reforms to extend labour protections and rights to the workforce of
Pakistan. We cannot expect democracy to deliver unless legislative
and law implementation efforts are stepped up to cover all sections
of the labour force.”
