Plight of labourers remains the same in 2015

KARACHI: On Labour Day, for the construction workers at an overhead bridge, the slaving in scorching heat is usual. They work without any protective gear like helmets or construction boots. May Day is marked worldwide by governments in memory of the labourers who were killed in Chicago in 1886 for demanding rights like an eight-hour work day.
“If I would have taken an off today, my salary would have been deducted by Rs400,” said a 30-year old labourer at the Malir-15 Flyover construction site on Friday.
Malir-15 flyover is a project by the Sindh government, which observes May 1 as a public holiday in line with the federal government. Technically, Labour Day is to be a paid holiday. But there is a problem. Unskilled labourers, not only work on this holiday dedicated to celebrate worker rights; they also get paid less than what the open market rate is.
The Sindh government pays Rs400 to the unskilled workers at the construction site; at least Rs600 less compared to the open market rate.
The labourer said he used to earn Rs600/day prior to joining the project some two-years ago. However, the certainty of finding work every day was dismal. “I am earning comparatively less these days, but I am sure I would get a fixed amount every month,” he said.
It has been observed that governmental, non-governmental organisations and civil societies raise voice for the betterment of employees in the organised sectors of the economy. However, almost no voice is raised for the improvement in working conditions for labourers in unorganised sectors like construction, and small and medium size enterprises.
Employees, who would have attended offices on the Labour Day in the organised sectors, would mostly be paid overtime. Such sectors include those that work 24 hours a day, like the textile industry.
Karamat Ali, executive director, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), said a new issue has emerged since 2010 that provincial governments did not do legislation to set minimum working standards for labourers under the 18th Amendment.
The Amendment did also not address the question of registering the national level trade unions. And Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution EOBI, and Workers Welfare Fund were yet national level organisations.
“The number of employees registered with EOBI is mere five percent of the total in the country… this is unsatisfactory,” he said.
He said new registrations for unions were very low. More importantly, the membership of workers in their respective unions was drastically low. “On an average, mere one out of 100 employees is a member of a union,” he said.
Liaquat Ali Sahi, secretary general of Democratic Workers Federation of State Bank of Pakistan (CBA), said the objective of outsourcing employees at many organisations was to deny basic rights to them. “Majority of the outsourced employees do not get the minimum fixed wage of Rs12,000/month, while they work for 12 hours a day against the defined eight-hour,” he said.
The state was not playing its role in getting implemented the Industrial Relations Act, which allows trade union activities at their respective organisations. “Trade activities are not allowed at many organisations, including Pakistan Railways, and industrial units, and many banks,” he said.
The government does not take onboard representatives of elected unions (Collected Bargaining Agents) in the process of privatisation of state-owned entities in most of the cases. The representation may help employees to remain unaffected from the sell-off of the entities. “Non-inclusions of representatives on the board create uncertainty among employees,” he said.
He said charter of demand of almost all the political parties in the country lack the sections which talks about betterment of labourers, labour laws, and their social and welfare rights. “This is the reason for which labourers do not have voice in the national and provincial parliaments,” he said.