Beyond the law?

Every now and then, when the media happens to report a story, we hear of workers being badly injured in factory accidents, sometimes left maimed for life. This newspaper recently told the story of Tanveer Baloch, who was 14 in 2006 when he lost all the fingers on his left hand and damaged the thumb when a factory machine ‘malfunctioned’. Compensation promised by factory owners never came his way, and today he is being offered a paltry Rs20,000 for an accident that altered his life forever. He has no realistic way to compel the owners to deliver on their promises. Tanveer is not alone; around the country, there are others like him – young men disabled for life in factories where safety regulations are not followed and human life has little value. We also know children work in hazardous fields such as mining despite Pakistan being a signatory to international conventions that bar child labour.

The failure to implement labour laws which are written out in black and white on our statute books is the real problem. Labour rights monitoring bodies have consistently commented on this. Labour inspectors are ineffective and workers are not given contracts that lay down their rights. Their lack of literacy or awareness about laws makes it easier to exploit them. In one way or the other these workers are exploited every day. Women and children – least able to stand up for their rights – are often the worst victims of abuse, working long beyond laid-down hours and failing to receive the wages that should be due to them. Our governments are the first to exploit the vulnerability of the workers, failing always to stand by them in times of crises. The demise of labour unions has hurt the country’s workers further. There is then no one there to stand up for people like Tanveer Baloch. Factory owners are free to do as they please, getting away literally even with murder. We need urgent steps to give a voice to our workers, whether this be through law or regulation or judicial intervention.