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Thursday March 28, 2024

‘12 million home-based female workers exploited daily’

By our correspondents
November 30, 2015
Karachi
As the government continues to shy away from announcing a proper policy to address the issues of home-based female workers, more than 12 million of them in Pakistan brave brutal exploitation at the hands of their employers every day, speakers observed on Sunday at the 'All Pakistan Home-Based Workers Convention', an event organised by the Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) with Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani as the chief guest.
Addressing the convention, he said provinces were yet to witness a proper devolution of power, in accordance with the 18th amendment, due to political expediencies.
Citing an example of the hindrances being faced by the provincial government, he said that Senate functional committee’s proposal, demanding the status of autonomous bodies for institutes like Workers Welfare Fund and Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) was turned down.
Criticising the model of privatisation, he said “The model had proved to be a global failure, but the elite class on the behest of bodies such as the IMF and the WB were rooting for the failed model to be applied in Pakistan.”
Rabbani said a country could not be declared a sovereign state unless its economy was independent of global influences. “Countries begging for loans from international bodies do not qualify to be called sovereign states.”
Expressing concern over the weakening of trade union politics in Pakitan, he said the workers needed strong trade unionism now, more than ever, to resist privatisation.
“Workers had to be made part of the parliament to defend their interests and rights,” Rabbani said adding, that a bill seeking special seats for labour representatives in the senate had already been tabled by him and Senator Saeed Ghani. He assured the audience of getting the CM’s approval for the pending policy bill for home-based workers.
Head of the Edhi Foundation, Faisal Edhi, spoke of the increasing number of domestic violence cases of home-based women workers being received by his organisation on a daily basis.
More than 60 million labourers in Pakistan were deprived of their rights protected under the labour laws, whereas despite a continuous increase in the production demand, the lives of the workers continued to deteriorate, the moot further observed.
The participants calling for immediate reforms in the sector resolved to get the government to ratify the ILO Home-work Convention 177 and make it a part of its local labour laws.
The governments of Sindh and Punjab were demanded to announce provincial policies for the workers and called for them to be brought under the definition of ‘labour’, set out in the constitution, in order for them to be given legal cover as well as the right of collective bargaining.
The workers were also called for being given the same social security benefits as enjoyed by the workers of the organised labour sector, whereas the definition of worker was demanded to be reformed as per the existing conditions.
Their work was sought to be highlighted and counted in government surveys, besides also being given due space with respect to policy-making in the sector; contractors and middlemen, dealing with the workers were also called for being registered.
The speakers also demanded formation of a special wage board to determine salaries of various trades falling under the ambit of home-based work.
HBWWF general secretary Zahra Khan, National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) president Rafiq Baloch, deputy general secretary Nasir Mansoor, Ashraf Ali Naqvi of the labor department, Umm-e- Laila of Home-net Pakistan, Home-based Women Bangle Workers Union’s Shakeela Khan and Jameela Abdul Latif and others also spoke at the event.