HYDERABAD: Women leaders of the Home-Based Labour Union Hyderabad at a programme on Wednesday called for implementing the laws on home-based workers, mostly women, and ensuring provision of facilities to them.
They said that they were hard workers who wanted to earn a decent living and provide for their poor families but they were routinely exploited.
They were speaking to a large number of home-based women workers — including glass bangle labourers, date-cutters and others — at a home-based workers’ conference held at the local press club aimed at highlighting their problems and finding solutions.
It was organised by the Home-Based Labour Union Hyderabad Sindh.
Speaking to women workers, union mentor Abira Ashfaq, president Rubina Habib, general secretary Irfana Abdul Jabbar, vice president Jameela Imamuddin and others urged the government to act upon the existing laws and ensure facilities.
They said illiterate workers were deprived of basic facilities-cum-privileges. They said they must be registered with the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (Sessi) and Employees Old-age Benefit Institution (EOBI) while training centres must be set up; they must be trained to sell their products at proper rates in markets.
They said it was sad that those needy and poor workers were subsidising business entrepreneurs or industrialists as they used their houses as workshops by deploying place, gas, electricity and water for eight to 10 hours.
They said that such informal labour was not generally covered by the labour laws and this long-neglected sector was falling victim to social and economic exploitation in society.
They said those women were suffering from various diseases, including those of lungs, eyesight, skin and cancer etc, but they were not given any medical facilities and they died while visiting public hospitals that lacked facilities.
Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2018
