Apprenticeship law on the anvil

KARACHI: The national assembly is expected to soon approve an apprenticeship law to bound companies to conduct skill development and training programs for workers, a top official at an employers’ association said on Wednesday.
“The draft of the law is already lying with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law...it is expected that the federal government will approve it within one to two months,” said KM Nauman, president of Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club.
The law may help in increasing the skilled manpower in the country. Nearly all the sectors of the economy are short of around half of skilled labours, Nauman said.
He invited nominations for the ‘Employers of the Year Award 2014’ in three different categories, including the best enterprise for human resource development, the best enterprise for work place environment, and the best chief executive officer of the year.
Besides, the government of Sindh is also working on another law, ‘Occupation Security and Health’ related to human resources. “We, in collaboration with the government of Sindh, International Labour Organization, and Pakistan Workers Federation, have been working on it since the incident of the Baldia town factory’s incident in 2012,” Nauman said. The fire outbreak at Ali Enterprises in Baldia town caused 258 workers to have lost their lives. This legislation will prevent the repeat of such incidents. The federal and provincial governments have been running programs for skill development for human resource since 2011 with the support of a number of European Union member countries, like Netherlands, Germany and Norway, he said.
EFP chief said the third annual award ceremony will be held in September 2015. The award will set a performance benchmark for companies and raise the bar for them, he added.