Capital malls not complying with labour laws

Islamabad: Shops in the big malls in Islamabad are not compliant with labour laws and do not provide conducive workplaces for women workers.

It was found out under a field survey conducted by Women Workers’ Alliance under a project titled 'Women Action for Better Workplaces'. The project is facilitated by Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability.

Women Workers’ Alliance undertook a survey exercise to see the conditions of women workers in the shops of three big malls of Islamabad. These malls not only symbolise modernity but also an environment which is friendly for women. However, these malls and the shops inside these malls were found to be violating labour laws and do not provide a conducive environment for the women workers.

It was found out that more than 90 per cent of women in the shops in these malls are working as sales girls. Married and pregnant women are not hired, women who get married after being employed are fired so that employer doesn’t have to give them any maternity benefits. Workers are denied all the basic rights including written contracts, these workers are not registered with Employees Old Age Benefits Institute or social security department.

Women workers have to work for longer hours averaging around 10-12 hours a day without any overtime payment, nor are they allowed any leaves/holidays except the weekly holiday that is given to them on rotational basis. There is no concept of sick leave and if a worker takes off other than its rotational weekly holiday, their salary for the day/s is slashed. There is no day care facility in any of these workplaces. Except for Giga Mall that has a sexual harassment committee to look at the issues of workers of Gigal Mall only, none of the other malls or shops have any such committee, neither are the workers aware of such a provision.

The survey sample for the project was chosen randomly. There are two tiers of employees in the malls; employees of the mall and those of the shops. Majority of the employees interviewed from the mall were unskilled workers including lift operators, security guards and cleaners. On each floor, on average, two shops were selected. Workers at the shops who were interviewed mostly included sales girls. The shops that had visible number of women employees were focused. Most of the findings are observation based or random interviews.

According to Pakistani labour laws providing a written contract is mandatory for the employers. Absence of contract is clear violation of the law of the country. The absence of contract compounds the exploitation manifold as missing terms and conditions make it easier for the employers to use employees time on its whims while benefits, rights and privileges of employment are curtailed.

These malls that are frequented by hundreds of thousands of visitors a month and are home to many brands and chains of stores. For the Labour Department in Islamabad, this presents an excellent opportunity to gauge the status labour standards in the shops that are representatives of a wider business network spanning across many cities.

Looking at the conditions of these women workers the Women Workers’ Alliance feels that labour department has not only failed to ensure the implementation of laws. The fact that these laws are not being implemented in the big malls is indicative of even bleaker picture of rights of women workers, elsewhere.