KARACHI: The issuance of a notification released after a meeting of employers and the Sindh government in which it was decided that no worker or employee should be laid off and their salaries during the lockdown period would also be paid to them has widely been hailed.

In a statement issued here, the decision was welcomed by the National Labour Council, which also called for implementing the decision strictly all over the province.

Members of the NLC, including Karamat Ali, executive director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, Habibuddin Junaidi of Peoples Labour Bureau, Liaqat Sahi of State Bank of Pakistan Labour Union, Nasir Mansoor of National Trade Union Federation and others, said that issuance of the notification was a welcome decision.

On Monday, the Sindh government issued a notification under Section 3 of the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Act (2014) and other relevant labour laws.

The notification said during the lockdown period no worker shall be laid off and all kinds of workers shall be paid salaries/remuneration/wages in full by their respective employers.

The period of closure may be considered by the employers as paid leave.

“Any person disobeying any direction or order shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code as provided under Section 4 of the said Act as well as applicable Labour Laws.”

Directors and joint directors of department of labour and human resources are empowered under the said law to take any legal action on any contravention of this order or the directions/orders/notices issue.

The NLC leaders said some industries had already been exempted from the lockdown, where the employers had arranged transport for the workers.

They said that the government should ensure provision of ration to daily-wage workers or those working as domestic workers on piece rate basis.

The government should evolve a mechanism for transparent distribution of relief goods on the doorstep of such workers, they demanded.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2020