KARACHI: The Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences in coordination with the Pakistan Workers Federation and Mazdoor Ikath organised a seminar for consultation on the uniform labour codes being worked on by the governments of Sindh and Punjab.

Titled “Workers Consultation on the Uniform Labour Codes: A Critical Legal Analysis”, the seminar brought together labour rights activists and academics who discussed various aspects of the new labour codes being introduced.

Prof Muhammad Umar Ali from LUMS University presented a critical legal analysis of the newly introduced uniform labour code and Waqar Memon from Pakistan Workers Federation showed how that might impact and challenge the rights of workers.

The analysis showed how the provincial governments in Sindh and Punjab were in the process of introducing uniform labour codes in both provinces with the technical assistance of the International Labour Organisation.

They said that those codes will be the most extensive labour reforms in Pakistan’s history and will repeal over 25 existing labour laws, replacing them with a single uniform labour code. The new uniform labour codes not only proposed to repeal hard-fought labour laws gained through 77 years of labour struggles and sacrifices but also threatened to regularise contractual employment and weaken collective bargaining, strikes and other social rights on which labour power rests, they added.

The critical legal analysis of the new uniform labour code was presented in the context of the history of labour struggles and long-standing demands of the working class and trade union movements.

The areas that the presentation reviewed in the new code in the context of existing legislation and on-ground developments were employment and contract System; working hours, wages, and work conditions; freedom of association, collective bargaining and industrial disputes; dispute resolution and grievance mechanisms; occupational safety and health; bonded and forced labour, informal labour and marginalised segments.

Representatives of all prominent trade unions, federations, labour organizations, and workers attended the event. These included Pakistan Workers Federation, National Trade Union Federation, Marriott Hotel Workers Union, Watan Dost Mazdoor Federation, KESC labour union and others.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2024