LAHORE, Oct 7: The Pakistani government will be asked to lift restrictions on trade unions and repeal anti-labour laws, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) official said here on Sunday.

Talking to a delegation of the Pakistan Labour Federation (PLF), Bureau for Workers Activities Director Dan Cunniah said ILO was working for good relations among workers, employers and governments. Protection of workers’ rights and their trade union rights is ILO’s responsibility and governments ratifying ILO conventions are required to abide by labour laws, he added.

The delegates, led by PLF Chairwoman Attiya Salim and Secretary-General Muhammad Saeed, told the ILO official the government had imposed restrictions on trade union rights of workers under the Industrial Relations Ordinance. Government employees can be dismissed summarily under the Removal from Service Ordinance and railway and bank employees have no trade union rights, they added.

The delegates said a majority of workers in Pakistan belonged to informal and agriculture sectors, which were out of the purview of labour laws and could not form trade unions. They said this issue could not be highlighted at ILO meetings because only one trade union was being invited to these meetings and that was pro-government.