NTUF Pakistan: demos and rallies for the WDDW

7 October 2016 demos and rallies organized by NTUF Pakistan
Third party contracts, unsafe and uncertain employment system should be ablolished; workers should be given their right to make unions and collective bargaining: NTUF and HBWWF rally demands
KARACHI
The National Trade Union Federation and Home Based Women Workers Federation took out a rally against continuous incidents of industrial accidents involving laborers death and third party contract systems on Friday.
The rally was taken out in accordance with the global day of safe working conditions and permanent employment on the appeal of IndustriALL Global Union.
Similar to a rally led by NTUF president Rafiq Baloch at Regal Chowk in Karachi, others were carried out in Hyderabad, Gadani, Multan and Peshawar.
Scores of workers, including women and youngster s took part in the rally to demand their rights and express solidarity with their colleagues working in hazardous conditions.
Protesting against the workers exploitation, speakers said that Pakistan was one of those countries where laborers were forced to work in precarious conditions and in this line many have lost their lives. The industrialists and government were, however, enjoying the perks at the expense of workers lives and had turned a blind eye towards their miseries, they added.
They said that the third party contacts and employment system had ripped the workers of their basic rights to form unions, access social security benefits, pensions and appointment letters. In the country, there was a workforce of more than 65 million people and of these only 1.5 percent were able to get their right of making unions, they asserted, adding that in the informal sector such as agriculture and home based workers the conditions were even worse.
Despite ratifying the International Labor Organization convention 37 and being awarded the GSP plus status by the European Union, the country has failed to extend these benefits to workers, they opined. The readymade garments manufacturers, miners and real estate developers in collusion of foreign companies and international brands has formed a nexus by bribing authorities maintain their unjust, unethical and illegal practices for the sake of profits, they said.
The Ali Enterprises incident is a stark reminder of how dangerous workers exploitation could be but still neither the industrialists nor the authorities have paid any heed towards the laborers cause, they deplored, adding that due to this criminal negligence scores were losing their lives at workplaces.
They demanded that:
Unsafe and uncertain working conditions should be rectified, health and safety law should be passed and labor inspection system should be implemented
Third party contract system should be abolished, workers should be given appointment letters and their rights to make unions and collective bargaining
Workers should be registered with EOBI, social security institutions and be made permanent employees
Informal sectors such as home based workers should be brought into the legL net through a legislation so that they could be entitled for benefits like other workers
Sindh Industrial Relation Act should be ensured as implemented and agriculture workers should be brought into its fold
The USD5.15 million compensation to Baldia factory fire affectess from German company KiK should be given at once rather than in installments
Workers at Gadani ship breaking yard should be given their right to health and safety and a hospital should be established for them there
Workers at Karachi shipyard, Merck Pharma, Schneider, Lipton, Glaxo, Habib Oil Mills and other companies should be made permanent
Those who spoke at the event include NTUF central president Rafiq Baloch, central deputy general secretary Nasir Mansoor, Sindh president Gul Rehman, Sindh general secretary Riaz Abbasi, HBWWF general secretary Zehra Khan, United HB Workers Union General secretary Saira Feroz, Awami Workers Party’s Usman Baloch, Peoples Labor Bureau’s Latif Mughal, Ali Enterprises Fire Affectess Association senior vice president Saeeda Khatoon, general secretary Abdul Aziz Khan, Saeed Baloch from Fisheries Cooperative Union, Railway workers union President Manzoor Razi and others.