Quetta Pakistan
Mr. Abdul Sattar, Secretary General All Pakistan Labour Federation (APLF) and Finance Secretary Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) address the 7th October Rally and said that the work conditions of mines are the worst with no provision of health and safety of workers. He said even the laws of land governing the issues of workers in the country are not being implemented and the situation could only be changed with the unity of workers so that they may approach the law makers to enact laws. He urged the labor leaders of whole Pakistan to forge unity and raise a stronger voice for the rights of workers. He further said that permanent jobs, good wages, decent work, safety and health facilities are under attack in whole world. Therefore, the coal mines in Pakistan especially Balochistan have become killing fields, with workers’ lives often put in danger. According to our affiliates reports, in January 2016 accidents claimed the lives of three workers in the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation-owned Sor-range mine in Quetta, and two workers in the Chamalang coal mines at Loralai. In February 2016 eight workers were killed and a further 14 were injured when a mine collapsed in Duki. Ten workers were killed in a mining accident on 12 March 2016 at the Al-Hussaini coal mine in the Doli area of Orakzai region, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Despite a heavy loss of lives in recent years, the government of Pakistan has not taken adequate steps to ensure safe working conditions in the mines. Most of the workers in Pakistan’s mining industry are precarious workers recruited through a complicated system of subcontracting. Hazardous, unsafe working conditions, low wages and lack of social security benefits are some of the major issues faced by workers.
Mr. Abdul Haleem Khan, Information Secretary APLF/PCMLF says that the government and concern authorities committed to change the precarious work with the decent work and fundamental/basic rights of the workers/labors. The federation/unions unions have to take serious steps for education of workers at plant level. He said precarious labor is amongst the major issues faced by workers in Balochistan. Permanent employment has shifted to precarious jobs through outsourcing, use of employment agencies, and inappropriate classification of workers as short-term or independent contractors. He further said that companies worldwide are shirking their legal obligations to workers by replacing permanent jobs with contract and temporary work. It needs world-wide support initiatives to replace precarious work with decent, family supporting jobs. Those workers are called precarious workers who fill permanent job slots in factories and work places but are not treated as permanent works nor given salaries, perks and rights of the permanent workers as per labor laws. These workers have to content with unstable employment, lower wages and more dangerous working conditions. They precarious workers are often denied the right to join a union or form their own union. They are unorganized and do not organized the workers in unions because their jobs are not permanent and they are easily replaceable.
He said that overall, the precarious work badly affects the rights of workers. When there is precarious work, labors get poor wages, insecure employment and no legal and social security cover. They do not even dream of social security, EOBI, pension, healthcare and insurance facilities. There is no health safety at work, no vocational training and no trade unions or collective bargaining agents to fight for the due rights of workers rule of law.
Information Secretary
APLF/PCMLF
Head Office; Hassan Plaza Falt, 1
Patel Bagh, M.A. Jinnah Road Quetta Pakistan
[email protected] [email protected]
