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Pakistan – Labour conference marred by protest threat

24 April 2014

Foreign labour ministers from six South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), EU dignitaries, representatives of Turkey and China, labour ministers from all four provinces of Pakistan, and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif are expected to participate in the first day of South Asia Labour Conference in Lahore, Pakistan.  

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will be the chief guest at the inaugural session as labour ministers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Maldives and high-level delegations from India, Nepal, and Bhutan will be in attendance, reports dawn.com.

Seven working groups will be formed to discuss topics; such as harmonising labour laws, working conditions, productivity and competitiveness, labour market information for evidence-based policies & laws, labour migration, occupational health & safety, social protection and protection of vulnerable groups (namely children and women).

These groups will submit their recommendations for forming a joint strategy on all the issues to be announced by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the concluding session of the conference on Saturday.

Some workers’ representatives in Pakistan have welcomed the delegates, while other have announced they will be protesting the conference and staging sit-ins in Lahore and across the province of Punjab.

Those protesting said in a press release that, despite repeated appeals, the Punjab government showed no interest in implementing labour laws, including those on minimum wages and social protection, in the province.

They said due to non-payment of minimum wages and other legal factors that working parents are being forced to send their children to work so that they could bridge the gap between income and still meet the minimum consumption needs of their families.

They said despite several assurances by the government that the minimum number of 50 workers at a workplace in order to register a union had not been withdrawn. Non-availability of NIRC judges and sacking of trade union leaders from PTCL, KESC and other institutions are clear evidence of lack government’s commitment to protecting workers rights, they added.

They also alleged that the participation of some hand-picked NGOs and trade union leaders in the sessions organised by the labour department was part of a strategy to silence opposition to the conference.