Piler’s report on labour rights

Karachi
On the eve of Labour Day, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) launched a comprehensive report entitled “Status of Labour Rights in Pakistan – 2014”.
Speaking at the launch, senior journalist and author Zubaida Mustafa congratulated Piler on its efforts for the 142-page report. “The working class remains the most important segment of an economy in today’s globalised world. If the working classes progress, countries progress with them.”
The first section of the report, based on secondary research, gives an overview of the socio-economic and political context, human development indicators, legislative development, labour market indicators and the existing terms and conditions of employment. The second section presents a collection of 12 research articles, case studies and analyses of trends and issues related to labour and employment.
“The task of capturing the status of labour in all its diverse aspects is onerous. Particularly in a country where the state keeps shedding its responsibilities of regulation, documentation, inspection, and monitoring of the complex world of work, where culture is heavily tilted towards oral tradition rather than written, where informal economy is the norm and where social justice and human and labour rights lay at the bottom of policy-makers’ agenda,” writes Zeenat Hisam, a senior research associate at Piler, in the foreword of the report.