Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, president Peoples Labour Federation (PLF) and former MNA, Monday urged the government to ratify and implement the ILO Convention on domestic workers in letter and in spirit, which is aimed at improving working conditions of million of domestic workers.
Flanked by Karamat Ali, Executive Director, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and Muhammad Sultan Ihan, Patron-in-Chief, All Pakistan Labour Federation, while speaking at a news conference here, said that though the government has ratified a number of UN Conventions they were not fully implemented. Chaudhry Manzoor said that targets of the national development could not be achieved until due rights were given to labourers. He called upon the government to constitute committees at district and provincial level and a standing committee at central level.
He said that implementation on the ILO Convention can help boost the exports, besides resolving the problems of the labourers. He recalled that exports of football were stopped due to child labour. He said if the issue had been resolved amicably, the exports could have increased manifold.
Giving details of the 100th annual conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), he said this year, the ILO adopted the Convention on Domestic Workers 189(2011). He termed the Convention on Domestic Workers 189 as a historic set of international standards, which are aimed at improving the working conditions of millions of domestic workers world-wide.
He said that adoption of convention on domestic workers is a very important milestone, adding, since no serious study has ever been undertaken on domestic workers in Pakistan, it is hard to establish the number of domestic workers in the country. President PLF said the Convention is an international treaty that is binding on member states that ratify it. The Convention makes it obligatory on ratifying countries to ensure minimum wage, clear information on terms and conditions of employment, safe and healthy working environment for domestic workers, weekly rest, social security coverage (including maternity coverage) at the level of regular workers and effective access to courts.
He called upon the government to ratify the Convention without any delay and also make necessary legislation for the implementation of the Convention including the creation of effective mechanism for implementation of Convention ensuring delivery of benefits to the domestic workers.
While the government makes provision for the Convention, we appeal to those who employ domestic workers to start the process of implementation of rights of domestic workers by providing minimum wages at current rate of Rs 7000 a month, ie, Rs 34 per hour and contribution to social security by way of registration and payment to the EOBI and related institutions, he said. He emphasised on trade unions and workers rights and other civil society organisations to play their role in communicating the Convention to the domestic workers.
He further said that Punjab government should remove the ban on labour inspection as it is against United Nations convention. He proposed holding of national level conference on labour issues to highlight the problems of domestic and other workers.
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