KARACHI: A conference organised by labour representatives on Sunday rejected the Sindh Labour Code and vowed to defeat all “conspiracies” to impose the controversial document “through the backdoor”.

Participants of the conference demanded that the Sindh and Punjab governments halt their attempts to impose the labour code without meaningful consultation with workers.

They also demanded that a living wage be declared as the legal minimum wage, ensure mandatory registration for social security and pensions, strict action against the illegal contract system in factories and workplaces.

The “Labour Conference” of textile, garment, shoe, and leather sectors was organised by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF).

Labour Conference slams ILO’s ‘collaboration’ with provincial govts that could end workers’ right to permanent employment

The event was chaired by HBWWF General Secretary Zehra Khan and attended by a large number of workers, including home-based workers from major industrial zones of Karachi.

Speaking on the occasion, Zehra Khan of the HBWWF said that the labour code seeks to safeguard the interests of industrialists and bureaucracy, not workers.

She emphasised that both federal and provincial governments had become facilitators of what she called an anti-worker agenda.

The Punjab government had already approved the code despite widespread objections and aimed to push it through the assembly. In Sindh, the government sent the draft to the law department without consulting labour organisations, contrary to its commitment. After strong protests, the Sindh labour minister promised to share the final draft with workers’ representatives, she said.

Raiz Abbasi strongly condemned the ILO’s collaboration with provincial governments under the guise of the Punjab and Sindh Labour Codes to abolish workers’ legal right to permanent employment.

He stated that the real objective of the code was to legalise the exploitative contract system, suppress workers’ right to strike and unionise, and ultimately weaken their collective power.

He added that the proposed code legitimised bonded labour through the deceptive concept of “advance loans”, institutionalising the buying and selling of workers. “It contradicted the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992, violated the Constitution, defies ILO conventions, and threatened to reintroduce slavery in the name of legal reform.”

He said that the reintroduction of peshgi (advance) payment and the narrow definition of bonded labour in the draft code were deemed unacceptable. “These practices form the foundation of modern-day slavery in Pakistan and must be abolished, not regulated.”

Another speaker, Qamar Ul Hassan, warned the PPP-led Sindh government not to follow Punjab’s path, or “risk permanent disgrace for forcibly enforcing such an anti-worker code”.

He also expressed grave concern over skyrocketing inflation that had made basic necessities unaffordable. Under pressure from international financial institutions, the state was abandoning its constitutional obligations, including free education and healthcare, employment guarantees, housing, affordable transport, electricity, and water. The struggle to access these basic rights was making life unbearable for ordinary people, he added.

Nasir Mansoor of NTUF said that the federal government had failed to announce any “minimum wage” increase, the minimum wages declared by Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained low. “Assembly members’ salaries continue to rise, yet wages for 90 million workers remained far below subsistence level,” he said.

In addition, workers were being illegally dismissed in large numbers, protests were being met with violence, and unionisation efforts were being sabotaged through collusion between factory owners and corrupt labour department officials. Cases of harassment and violence against women workers were also on the rise, he said.

He stressed that Pakistani factories producing garments for international brands that were signatories to the Pakistan Accord were allegedly violating the agreement.

Qazi Khizar of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that unity among workers was needed to resolve all the issues. He demanded decent wages for all workers.

Habibuddin Junedi, Khalid Khan, Liaqat Sahi, Mir Zulfiqar, Mirza Maqsood, Aqib Hussain and Saira Bano also spoke.

The participants also demanded an immediate end to illegal dismissals and mistreatment of workers and dismissal of labour department officials obstructing unionisation.

They demanded that international fashion brands uphold their responsibility toward workers’ rights, Pakistan Accord and Global Framework Agreements be respected in true and practical terms and concrete measures be taken to end harassment and violence against women workers.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2025