KARACHI: Heirs of the Baldia factory fire victims have been asked to “calmly rethink” their demand for a lump sum in compensation which has been recently agreed upon between a German textile company and a Pakistani labour rights organisation.

A meeting of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) and the heirs of the Ali Enterprises fire victims was held at PMA House on Sunday afternoon.

Advocate Faisal Siddiqi and Karamat Ali, executive director of Piler, took questions from the heirs of the fire victims in order to know the payment options best suited to them. The disagreement surfaced at the meeting when the families reiterated their demand that they be given a lump sum after the recent agreement with the German textile company for long-term compensation of $5.15 million.

The compensation amount adds up to Rs920 million of which Rs500 million will be given to the families as pension.

The families demanded the payment of pension at once so that they would not have to rely on the social security institutions and Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI). Most cited delay in receiving pension as their reason to not rely on the institution.

Speaking to the families, Advocate Siddiqi said: “It is your money that is under the supervision of International Labour Organisation (ILO) at the moment. It won’t go to anyone else until you decide otherwise.”

The ILO was requested to mediate between KiK and Piler by the German government in March last year, when an earlier disagreement on Dec 23, 2012 between the two led to a two-year feud.

Gilber Houngbo, deputy director general of ILO, had convened a meeting upon recommendation and support of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and with the representatives of the KiK, the Clean Clothes Campaign and the IndustriALL Global Union in Geneva to sort out the issue. The two organisations, IndustriAll Global Union and Clean Clothes Campaign, fought for the rights of the Pakistani labourers in Germany. It led to the recent signing of the agreement to disburse $5.15 million under the supervision of ILO.

On the day of the signing of the agreement, the heirs of the victims staged protests demanding that they be given entire compensation at once. Mr Siddiqi said, “The problem is that it is not part of the agreement. Pension will increase during your lifetime. But if the dispute went on, it may bring the compensation process to a halt.”

He explained the pension would be settled on Rs25,500 per family affected by the tragedy. A retired judge would be made part of a commission, with a representative from the heirs, to oversee the compensation process so that it reached “genuine people”, he added.

A government representative Gulfam Memon iterated the same and pledged that the families “will receive help at every step”.

The families, however, had their reasons for not trusting the compensation process.

A woman from the audience told the panellists that her nine-year-old niece was refused pension because she “did not have a smart card”. She added that when they went back to the EOBI office, they were informed that “their file is missing”. A man, who introduced himself as Allah Bukhsh, said: “I received pension after three years of running from one government office to another.”

The process is still under consideration until the next meeting between the families and the labour organisation.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2017