implemented in the provinces with the support of the provincial governments, she said.
She said the ILO will also help Pakistan in formalising the informal economy, workers and labour force. She said Pakistan’s economy is largely undocumented and so is the labour force. So the documentation of the economy will enable the labour force of the country to get their rights too, she remarked.
She mentioned that the stakeholders of the labour sector of Pakistan had pointed out the un-documentation and recommended to take up the issue in the Geneva meeting held last year. “The Geneva meeting considered the recommendations and put it in their ILO related guidelines to Pakistan,” she said.
Various workers federations, unions and others appreciated the outgoing ILO Country Director Francesco d’Ovidio’s efforts to streamline the labour issues of Pakistan and bringing them in limelight. However, they criticized the non-implementation of the minimum wage law, as well as wrong fixation of minimum wage.
They said that very few industries and businesses were complying with the law of minimum wage in letter and spirit.
Chaudry Naseem Iqbal, Representative of Pakistan Workers Federation, also nominee on EOBI Board of Trustees, said that since the 18th Amendment the fate of EOBI has not be decided by the government.
He said that whenever the workers asked for resolving some issues related with the EOBI, the board said it was a provincial matter after devolution of powers, while provinces said otherwise. Iqbal said the government should decide the fate of EOBI; either to keep it a federal institution, which is the best solution for all workers or give it to the provinces.
He believed that transferring the EOBI to the provinces would be a great disaster and huge assets of the EOBI could be taken away by the corrupt people in provincial governments, especially in Sindh. This would deprive the workers of their rights.