KARACHI, Feb 21: The federal government is formulating a national policy on home-based workers which is to be announced in the middle of the current year.
For this purpose the ministry of labour and manpower has started a series of consultations with key labour-market stakeholders to get their feedback on the draft policy in view of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.This was stated by a representative of the ministry of labour and manpower at a provincial consultative workshop on home-based workers here on Monday.
The meeting was chaired by joint secretary (labour welfare) of the ministry of labour and manpower S.M. Mustafain Kazmi.
Representatives of employers, workers/trade unions, the provincial department of labour, the women development department, civil society organisations and research institutions attended the meeting.
Mr Kazmi said that though the home-based workers were an important segment of society, they were regarded as a disadvantaged segment of the workforce and yet to be given full rights and recognition.
He said that the government had taken the issue seriously and was moving fast to develop a national policy based on national aspirations and cultural needs.
He said that for this purpose feedback from all provincial stakeholders was being sought through these consultative workshops and encouraged all participants to give feedback openly.
Gulfam Nabi from the Sindh labour department welcomed the participants and said that the Sindh Assembly had already passed a resolution demanding rights for home-based workers. However, due to its complicated nature, it would be a challenge for the government to collect accurate data on home-based workers, he added.
Nasir Mansoor from the labour education foundation welcomed the initiative and emphasised the need for having inclusive definitions of workers, employers and workplace.
Saad Gilani from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) elaborated the role of the ILO in promoting workers rights in general and women workers rights in particular through tripartite consultations in reference to the ILO Convention 177 which called on all member countries to develop a support mechanism and national policy for home-based workers.
HomeNet Pakistan executive director Ume Laila informed the participants about the process adopted earlier for the policy formulation and the current status.
Participants took keen interest in discussions and group works and thoroughly reviewed all aspects of the draft policy.
They suggested that the definitions of workers, employers, work, wages and workplace/establishment should be redefined to make it more inclusive for home-based workers.
Since the labour department has a limited outreach, it was recommended that women labour officers should be recruited and trained to support home-based workers in collaboration with local bodies, preferably women councillors.