LAHORE: Pakistan has overall scored 51 points out of 100 at the Decent Work Check tool of the Labour Rights Index (LRI) that covers 115 countries across the globe. Finland and Lithuania top the LRI with both scoring 96 points.

The LRI for the year 2020 contains 10 indicators each with five legal questions and has been compiled by the Netherlands-based Centre for Labour Research and Wage Indicator Foundation.

Pakistan lags behind neighbouring India, Myanmar, Iran, and China which have scored 69, 63, 69.5 and 71 points, respectively. However, it leads Bangladesh by three and Sri Lanka by 0.5 points. Interestingly, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the states which got independence in 1991 from Soviet Union, have scored 80 plus points in the survey, four points better than Russian Federation.

Pakistan has scored zero on the Trade Union indicator, comprising queries about legal cover for forming TUs, bargaining collectively with employers, right to strike, and barring employers from terminating job contracts of striking workers.

It could not secure even a single point on Family Responsibilities indicator pertaining to law for parental leave for parents, at least one week of paid leave for fathers, flexible work arrangements for workers with family responsibilities, and paid nursing breaks.

Its third lowest score, 20, was Fair Treatment indicator, concerning with discrimination in employment matters, equal pay for work of equal value, ban on sexual harassment at workplace, equal opportunity for both sexes at all jobs, and basic labour protections for gig economy workers.

For the Maternity at Work indicator, Pakistan scored 40 points as it failed to legislate for prohibiting inquiring about pregnancy during recruitment, paid maternity leave for at least 14 weeks, and dismissals during or on account of pregnancy.

For the Social Security indicator, it met three of the five conditions, including old age pension, dependent’s pension and invalidity benefit. It lacks laws on unemployment benefits and paid leave for the first six months of sickness.

Pakistan’s response is positive on three of the five legal queries about Decent Working Hours. It fails to legislate on limiting maximum per week working hours, including overtime, to 56 hours and paid annual leave for at least three weeks.

For Safe Work and Child & Forced Labour indicators it scored 75 points each. The Safe Work contains legal rights on personal protective equipment, training of workers on health & safety, employment injury benefit and restricting from work prejudicial to the health of mother or child, the last one is devoid of legal cover.

For the Child & Forced Labour indicator it meets the criteria for law on prohibiting child and forced labour, and not employing those under 18 for hazardous work but does not specify the employment age equal to or higher than the compulsory schooling age.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2021