KARACHI: IRO be made consistent with ILO guidelines Two-day convention concludes
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 24: A national convention of workers, through a unanimously-adopted resolution, demanded that the anti-worker Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO), 2002, be reviewed and be made in line with various international labour conventions signed by the government.
Besides, other resolutions were also adopted at the conclusion of the two-day convention of the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan. The resolutions were made public at a press conference at the Press Club on Friday by federation leaders, Saleem Raza, Mohammad Rafiq, Yusuf Baloch and others.
They said that if the government did not make the IRO-2002 consistent with the country’s international commitments and ILO guidelines, it might be used by the vested interests to affect country’s exports.
They said as the ordinance was promulgated after election of the National Assembly, it should have been passed by the assembly, but the authorities, knowing that the assembly would not pass such an ‘anti-worker’ law, issued it through an ordinance.
They deplored that while formulating the IRO-2002, the government had not even considered the proposals put forward by the tripartite labour conference that represented the workers, employers and the government. They said that a large number of workers had been victimized due to the ordinance.
They also said that the NTUFP, through the Employers Federation of Pakistan and federal Industries and Labour ministries, would ask the employers to implement labour laws in their respective organizations by June 2004. If the laws were not implemented, the NTUFP would urge the international human rights and labour rights organizations to boycott such business houses.
Pointing out that majority of the government workers were not allowed to participate in the healthy trade union activities, the leaders demanded that all workers, except those working in army and police, be allowed to participate in union activities.
They said that an overwhelming majority of the workers were not even given the appointment letters, medical facilities, pension, bonus, overtime etc, and a large number of them were forced to work for long hours and were not even paid the minimum wages. They also demanded that minimum wages be revised and fixed at Rs 6,000 per month.
They demanded that contract system be abolished and workers be employed on regular basis. They also demanded that labour laws be implemented all over the country and the exempted industrial zones be brought under these laws.
They demanded that Kalabagh Dam, which was being opposed by three provinces, should not be constructed. They also demanded abolition of Jagirdari system and anti-worker amendments done in laws giving unchecked sacking powers to the employers.
They called for the cancellation of restrictions imposed on trade unions by various organizations, adding these were against the constitutional rights.
They also called for the abolition of the Hudood Ordinance and child labour. They urged the government to maintain friendly relations with the neighbouring countries.
Calling for reduction in non-developmental expenses by at least 30 per cent, they demanded that budget for development and social sectors like health, education, provision of safe drinking water etc, be increased. They also called for presenting the defence budget in the parliament.
Expressing concern over the growing fanaticism, sectarianism, extremism, which had seriously affected the society, they demanded that a campaign for spreading love, peace and tolerance be launched so that people could coexist peacefully.
They also demanded that contract system by abolished from the newspaper industry and Seventh Wage Board Award be implemented immediately.
They also called for the institution of a high-level inquiry into the accounts of the Karachi Shipyard workers’ provident fund.
They said that representatives of over 102 trade unions from all over the country participated in the two-day national convention, where senior trade union leaders, S P Lodhi, Saleem Raza, Mohammad Rafiq, Farooq Tariq, Shafiq Ghauri, Rahim Awan, Ghani Zaman, and others spoke.
