‘Concept of labour rights is in accordance with Quran and Hadith’
Karachi
May 16, 2021
Less than one per cent of the labour force in Pakistan has formed unions, which shows that our labour is not organised. The lack of trade unions and collective bargaining agents has been attributed to religion for some strange reason as people are confused about it.
Karamat Ali, labour activist and the executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), said this during a webinar titled ‘Labour Rights in Islam: Modern Relevance in Pakistan?’ organised by the Ziauddin Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Ziauddin University.
‘Farmers in Sindh receive Rs6,000 per month’
National
May 2, 2021
KARACHI: Marking International Labour Day on Saturday, the Hari Welfare Association (HWA) lamented that in the rural areas of Sindh, millions of workers in agriculture and brick kilns are without social security and decent work, including the minimum wage.
HWA head Akram Khaskheli claimed that these workers hardly received Rs6,000 per month in salary against the Rs17,500 minimum wage promised by the Sindh government for unskilled workers in 2019. The HWA stated that because of unemployment and lack of education and skills, millions of young people were forced to work around 14 hours a day at grocery shops, restaurants, and workshops just for Rs5,000 per month in rural parts of Sindh, and among them were women and girls who picked cotton and chillies but received meagre wages.
Karachi
May 2, 2021
Marking International Labour Day on Saturday, the Hari Welfare Association (HWA) lamented that in the rural areas of Sindh, millions of workers in agriculture and brick kilns are without social security and decent work, including the minimum wage.
HWA head Akram Khaskheli claimed that these workers hardly received Rs6,000 per month in salary against the Rs17,500 minimum wage promised by the Sindh government for unskilled workers in 2019.
The HWA stated that because of unemployment and lack of education and skills, millions of young people were forced to work around 14 hours a day at grocery shops, restaurants, and workshops just for Rs5,000 per month in rural parts of Sindh, and among them were women and girls who picked cotton and chillies but received meagre wages.
Piler demands resilient system for workers’ safety
Karachi
April 30, 2021
The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) has underscored the need to lay down a resilient system of occupational safety and health (OSH) at workplaces in the country, saying that the current system, especially the labour inspection mechanism in the provinces, has failed to ensure the protection of workers’ lives and their wellbeing.
In a statement issued on the occasion of World Day for Safety and Health at Work, Piler Executive Director Karamat Ali regretted that every year hundreds of workers lose their lives while working, especially in coal mines and other industries, in major cities of the country.
KARACHI: Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) is a national asset and the provincial government will be more than happy to run it in collaboration with its employees.
Speaking at a press conference along with several trade unionists at the Karachi Press Club here on Saturday, the minister said that the government could run PSM like the Thar coal projects, where locals had also been involved.
“What has happened to the Steel Mills is nothing short of a tragedy. Friends are being favoured. Workers are being destroyed. We ask the federal government to not destroy this asset, not let its workers starve. But what to say about the federal government that takes a U-turn on every turn,” he said.