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It was nearly three months ago that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had constituted an inter-ministerial committee, in the light of a labour ministry proposal, to review a draft bill that aims to make necessary amendments in some controversial clauses of the Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO), 2002.
The committee was asked to present its recommendations to the Cabinet for approval within 30 days. According to a Business Recorder report, so far the ministerial body has not held a single meeting to perform its assigned task. As a matter of fact, it has become almost a regular feature of the present government's style of functioning to allow issues requiring legislative action to drag on and on.
Take the case of the PEMRA amendments. Like some others it has been hanging fire for years. Even though ruling party legislators have held several meetings with the concerned parties to sort out contentious aspects of these issues, promising to make necessary legislative changes, yet there is no sign they intend to do that within the foreseeable future.
The reluctance to settle these issues is inexplicable considering that the government enjoys a comfortable majority in Parliament, and, when inspired enough, it has passed bills in record time. Clearly, lack of will accounts for the apathy with which all these important issues are being treated.
As the election time draws nearer, the tendency to postpone contentious questions indefinitely may take hold, and whatever legislative business is accomplished would be tainted by election related considerations rather than merit.
Under the IRO promulgated by President General Pervez Musharraf in 2002, trade union activities are strictly banned in as many as eight organisations, which has drawn criticism from international as well as domestic labour bodies and rights groups.
As our report points out, the IRO draft bill is designed to bring local laws in conformity with the ILO charter, to which Pakistan is a signatory. It has ratified 36 ILO conventions, including C-87 and C-98 that make it obligatory for the country to modify its labour laws so as to bring them in consonance with ILO requirements.
Based on advanced industrialised societies' experience as well as expert opinion, these conventions seek to safeguard worker rights without jeopardising business interests. Which is why they need to be incorporated in individual countries labour laws.
However, as we have been pointing out in these columns, it is in the interest of both the workers and the entrepreneurs that the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are not treated like major industries vis-a-vis implementation of labour laws.
For that militates against the principle of equity. Besides, big industries employ high technology whereas SMEs tend to be labour-intensive, and hence have a special role to play in addressing the twin problems of unemployment and poverty.
At present, labour laws and various worker welfare schemes become applicable as soon as they become operational - encumbrances which often times lead to business closures. Consequently, those who suffer are not only entrepreneurs but also workers.
A better solution would be to set the worker threshold level at 100 and above for applicability of labour laws and worker welfare schemes. That can ensure sustained activity and competition in the labour market, which would benefit the workers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2006

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