Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) staged a peaceful rally in front of Hyderabad Press Club on Wednesday on the occasion of international decent work day and demanded of the government to ratify the convention 177 of international labour organisation (ILO) and recognise the home-based workers as workers under labour laws.
A large number of home-based women workers belonging to glass bangle and other sectors attended the rally led by HBWWF central general secretary Zahra Khan. Addressing the rally, Zahra Khan said that like other parts of the world, in Pakistan the production process is also being shifted from formal to informal work sector, depriving workers of all their privileges obtained by them under the local and international labour laws.
She said the number of women workers in the informal sector is rising with every passing day and added there are about 16 million women workers in Pakistan who are not being recognised as workers under the labour laws. These home-based women workers have been playing an important role in textile, garment, leather, sports goods and other important industrial sectors. As these workers are not in the ambit of law they are deprived of social security, old age benefit, union making and CBA electing rights.
She said that in this backdrop the home-based women workers have made a historic achievement by getting their organisation registered under the name of Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF), which has been struggling for ratification of homework convention 177 of ILO. General Secretary of Home-based Women Bangle Workers Union, Jameela Jabbar said that hundreds of thousands of women workers of glass bangle industry have been facing grim economic scenario due to pathetic work conditions.
Harmful chemicals used in the glass bangle industry are spreading cancer, TB, joint pain, asthma and others diseases amongst women workers, she said, adding that these women work along with their whole families for 12 to 14 hours a day on meager wages. National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) leader Shakeela Khan said that the precarious work has become the hallmark of all production sectors in Pakistan. Others who spoke on the occasion included Shaheena Ahmed, Akbari and Bushra Dilawar.
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