Sindh’s new labour policy will protect jobs, says minister

Sindh Information and Labour Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said on Saturday that the newly announced provincial labour policy has provided labourers across the province with unprecedented privileges, including protection of their jobs.

Addressing a news conference, the minister said the provincial government had taken on board all the relevant representative leaders and associations of labourers while drafting the new labour policy.

He said that under the new labour policy, labourers will be entitled to all the government privileges and benefits relating to official service. Shares of labourers in public sector corporations have been increased from 20 to 40 per cent, he added.

Shah said the government has constituted several boards to safeguard the rights of labourers, adding that the new labour policy will help resolve issues of labourers across the province.

He said that all the relevant institutions of the government will work together and play their due role in implementing the new provincial labour policy.

The minister said the new labour policy has accorded the decision-making rights to labourers regarding their work, as this step will prove to be a milestone in transforming their lives.

He said the Sindh government had brought together all the important stakeholders – labourers, employers and labour authorities – to formulate the new labour policy.

Shah said the labour policy will help resolve the problems of labourers, including those associated with private organisations such as the K-Electric. The database of labourers working across the province will soon be computerised, he added.

Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research said the labour policy will enable the government to register labourers as beneficiaries of workers’ welfare fund.

Prominent industrialist Majyd Aziz said the old labour laws are not beneficial for anyone any more. He said the board of the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution should be reconstituted.

The labour policy drafted by the Sindh government will be sent to other provincial administrations so they can adopt similar policies in the interest of workers, he added.