Daily Times

KARACHI: Sindh Caretaker Minister for Labour Simon John Daniel, on Tuesday, assured a delegation of labour leaders that he would take swift measures to implement relevant labour laws.

While talking to a delegation of of labour and trade union leaders led by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Executive Director Karamat Ali, the caretaker minister for Labour promised that he would convene a meeting of Tripartite Labour Standing Committee to resolve the issues of workers. He also assured the labour leaders that a notification for fixation of minimum wages for unskilled workers in the province would be issued soon.

The Labour Minister said that although the caretaker government could not make a policy level decision, his priority was to implement the laws and work according to laws.

On this, the labour leaders informed caretaker minister Simon John Daniel that during the tenure of previous government, a number of labour laws were passed and rules of business of some laws had been drafted. They said that a Tripartite Labour Conference was held for the first time in Sindh in the previous government’s tenure. They explained that, as a result, a Standing Committee, comprising of members from employers, employees and the government , had been notified.

While recounting steps taken to ensure the welfare of workers in the province, the delegation said that the previous Sindh government had announced first provincial Labour Policy, in which recommendations from the labour organisations were incorporated.

Karamat Ali requested the caretaker labour minister to review the minutes of Tripartite Labour Standing Committee’s previous meetings and implement the previous decisions of the committee. He pointed out that the committee had agreed on the reconstitution of boards of labour welfare organisations including Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI), Employees Oldage Benefit Institution (EOBI) and Workers Welfare Board (WWB).

During the meeting, Farhat Parween from National Organisation for Working Communities (NOWCommunities) advised the minister to convene a meeting of Minimum Wage Board and fix the minimum wages for unskilled workers. She added that minimum wages were announced every year on the occasion of budget but this year minimum wages for unskilled workers were not announced.

Farhat Parween also told the caretaker minister for labour that workers from religious minorities were finding it difficult to get employed since they were only being provided jobs in certain government departments. She also asked the caretaker minister to look into the matters of implementation of international conventions under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP)-Plus facility, which has been available to Pakistani exporters since 2014.

Senior trade union leader Habibuddin Junaidi informed the minister that implementation of minimum wages was a serious problem as many industries in Karachi were not following the minimum wage laws. He advised the minister to send labour department’s teams to some industries to check if they were implementing minimum wages.

Zulfiqar Shah of PILER said that the labour leaders of the province had been closely working with the provincial government and tripartite mechanism had been strengthened. He also asked the minister to look into the problems of Khaadi workers. “Khaadi workers are facing removal from the job as well fake cases against them,” Zulfiqar Shah informed the caretaker minister.

Minister Simon John Daniel assured the delegation that he would look into matters relating to workers problems. He also promised to look into the problem of private sector workers losing their jobs.

Published in Daily Times, July 18^th 2018.