HYDERABAD, March 26: Amendments to the original IRO-1969, in the shape of the IRO-2002, curtail the rights of workers and trade union representatives to seek legal remedy in case of unfair practices on part of employers, chairman of the Pakistan Workers and Education Trust Prof Shafi Malik said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a seminar organized jointly by the Trust and the National Labour Front in Hyderabad.

The new amendments, he said, would place the workers at the mercy of the vindictive actions of the employers regarding dismissals, discharges and removals from service.

Prof Malik urged the government to initiate remedial action to avoid litigation. He said that under the amended law, the NIRC had lost its right to grant interim relief to the workers, effectively rendering this judicial forum ineffective.

He further said that powers of the labour courts, to reinstate workers to their respective services, had also been taken away, confining its powers to awarding compensation to worker in the shape of a one-time grant of 12-month salary not exceeding 30 months of last drawn basic pay.

Prof Malik said that the registration of a trade union had also been made difficult.

He said that before the promulgation of IRO 2002, the ministry of the labour had consulted stakeholders and had submitted a draft, agreed upon by all parties concerned, to the cabinet for approval but the final draft was changed.

Regretting that these recommendations had not been included in the new ordinance, he said that the IRO-2002 had become controversial and a countrywide movement by the workers could not be ruled out, which he added, would harm the country’s industrial development.