‘Political will needed to end slavery’
National
December 19, 2020
LAHORE: There is nearly 6 million labour force in the brick kiln sector alone in the country out of which at least 3 million are in Punjab. They do not get the minimum wage which is Rs 1,295 per 1,000 bricks. Kiln workers are paid Rs 650-700 on average, says Mahr Safdar of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF).
“One brick kiln engages 35-50 families which produce 50,000 raw bricks daily. If we assume that 40 families work on average at a brick kiln, the owners are paying them Rs 24,000 less every month and there are 30 thousand brick kilns in Punjab alone,” he goes on to say. There is no social protection for brick kiln workers, no social security card which means no health cover. In 2013 the Supreme Court in a decision ordered all the chief secretaries to inform how many social security cards were made every month, he recalls.