There is an urgent need to address the fundamental principles and rights at work, writes M. Saeed Kureshi
Over the past decade, Pakistan has experienced a precarious medley of political mayhem, indiscriminate militant operations, economic upheavals, military spending in war against terror and growing differences within the society. These marked tribulations have had an adverse affect on the working class whose dignity and welfare continues to decline. With the rising inflation, a worldwide financial downturn, stringent foreign aid and loan conditions, reduced subsidies, inadequate fund allocations, energy tariff hikes and rising food insecurity are factors that have aggravated the already grim situation. Consequently, this has impinged seriously on equitable employment opportunities, giving rise to the employment of informal and a hapless labour workforce.
In the wake of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, labour—having been devolved—has become a provincial subject with crucial implications. For the last 20 years, adoption of economic policies such as the so-called neo-liberal employment regimes, privatisation and deregulation have resulted in the diminishing of organised labour. From the trade union point of view, labour members are less than an alarming two per cent today.
The informal sector is expanding rapidly, further shrinking the application of labour laws while employers continue to innovate ways to deprive the labour force of its rights. Now there are just a handful of workers who have the rights to unionise, decent wages and social security, though the situation is far from satisfactory.
The formal and informal sector divide is an enigmatic reality. The large industry employment has declined to around nine per cent and labour prevails mostly in the small-scale industry. There has been outsourcing on a large scale which has increased the home-based work. Resultantly, the employment systems have changed; there is no direct hiring for a majority of job seekers; it is the so-called contract system in large factories and commercial institutions and even government organisations that hires people by the bunch and on contract.
Direct employment is now a shrinking sector, as labour is employed through an appointed contractor. Thus a majority of workers today are denied permanent employment opportunity, and they cannot group together to voice their concerns as an entity, say, like a trade union.
Basic labour rights, according to the Pakistani law, stipulate eight hours of work and overtime in case of extended hours.There were the limits which have been raised in the last few years in the Factory Act, whereby, workers can toil for 12 to 16 hours, if those are the conditions for employment. Implementation of labour laws has gradually dampened to a minimum resulting in a rise in health and safety issues too.
Government institutions and workers’ unions that can monitor the rights of workers are nearly extinct in today labour environment. The employer can minimise the cost of doing business and pay little heed to labours’ demands. The precariousness of work has thus increased and employment remains insecure for a majority of workers today.
Our laws too have built-in discriminations. The law regarding terms and conditions of work is Standing Orders Ordinance of 1968, but where 20 or less people work, it is inapplicable. Concurrently, according to the Factories Act, where there are 10 or less workers, it becomes inapplicable. Then there is the Industrial Relations Act which regulates union-making and workplace relations of employer and the worker. Recently, the Punjab government has made a law whereby 50 or less workers cannot make a union. Similarly, there are more exclusions embedded in the law and nearly 70 per cent of this law does not apply to the existing labour force.
In the area of agriculture, where nearly 40 per cent of the workforce is engaged, these laws are not applicable and there are no unions. Since agriculture is not an industry or recognised as a commercial activity labour laws are also not applicable on the sector. Resultantly, we have straightaway ostracised about 40 per cent of the labour force. Welfare net or welfare laws (EOBI, pension, etc.) are also not effective.
According to the law where there are five or more workers, there should be a registration process, but where there is a workforce of over 55 million, only 2.5 million are registered. This means that an overwhelming majority is not benefiting.Similarly, there are provincial employees’ social security institutions in which at the most only a million workers are registered countrywide which is not even one per cent of the workforce. Discrimination in law would be a violation of our Constitution in the light of Article 25 which stipulates equal rights and organisations to citizens.
A case in point is the government’s announcement of minimum wage of Rs7,000, but in reality more than 80 per cent of the workers are being denied this remuneration. There should be inspections and a strong monitoring system in place to identify such discrimination in the wages. For this a tripartite system needs to be devised whereby the government, the employer and the worker sit together for institutional consultation to alleviate mutual difficulties.
The last tripartite and formulation of Standing Labour Committee were held in 2001 after a lapse of 13 years and now since 10 years there are no institutional mechanisms, hence decisions of choice are made without recourse to the law. Legal aid being expensive is often non-existent for the workers and there is little provision of free legal aid. Decisions are pended for decades and judicial mechanisms for labour too is almost dysfunctional, with most labour courts going empty.
For establishing the conditions of decent working conditions, there is an urgent need to address the fundamental principles, labour’s rights at the workplace that meet international labour standards. Concomitantly, a strategy is also needed to generate employment and income opportunities, social security, social dialogue and inclusive consultative mechanisms.