KARACHI, Nov 24: The representatives of civil society organisations on Friday urged the government to sign the International Labour Organisation’s Convention C-177 on home-based work so that rights of the home-based workers could be protected.

Speaking at a Press conference at the Press Club, Justice (retd) Shaiq Usmani and representatives of the Aurat Foundation Shirin Khan and Malka Khan urged the government to formulate laws that could protect the rights of home-based workers.

They said in the absence of specific laws home-based workers were at the mercy of contractors or middlemen, who provided them raw material at home and took the product from them. However, the contractors paid less to the workers and kept the lion’s share of the profits.

They also urged the authorities to register all such workers and make it mandatory for contractors or middlemen to get their work done only from the registered workers. The government should also fix minimum wages for the home-based workers.