"Pakistani readymade garments manufacturers are ready and willing to participate in the ILO Better Work programme and geared up to meet the requirements in order to enhance their exports and transform their units to comply with all conditionalities. Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP) offers to undertake the necessary task to motivate, monitor and evaluate these units," EFP President Majyd Aziz assured the ILO Better Work team from Geneva at an interactive session in Karachi.
Majyd Aziz, along with Feroz Alam, Director, and Fasihul Karim Siddiqi, Secretary General EFP, presented a detailed account of the activities of EFP, including training, research and audit. EFP is also initiating a Social Dialogue that can and would set the foundation for introduction of Better Work programme in Pakistan. They added that the high profile activities of EFP has resulted in companies and Associations now relying on EFP to assist them in Industrial Relations, Human Resources Development, Occupational Safety and Health, Environment, etc. This has enabled EFP to structure solutions for various issues faced by employers.
The EFP is desirous of having a formidable role if and when Better Work programme is initiated in Pakistan because it has developed the critical mass to undertake and help implement this programme. EFP is already working on women empowerment, child labor, application of International labor standards, labour inspection etc that are key indicators of the Better Work programme.
Tara Rangarajan, Global Operations Manager ILO Better Work, and Janika Simon, Technical Officer ILO Better Work, said they are learning about the Pakistan environment and are pleased that stakeholders in Pakistan are knowledgeable about Better Work program. They also added that many ILO Projects in Pakistan are complementary to Better Work.
Rangarajan cautioned that they were here to do the feasibility report and its completion will take a longer time. They wanted to determine if conditions in Pakistan are conducive for implementing this programme. They advised that EFP must get the textile industry, especially the readymade garments sector, on board and should also involve the SME sector. They wanted to know whether EFP had done any Compliance Plus Audit of any textile unit.
Simon informed that as a result of their participation in Better Work program, garment factories in Haiti, Jordan, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Vietnam etc, have improved their compliance with ILO core labour standards and increased their exports. She added that since Pakistani garments units are not in compliance with Better Work, major buyers, such as Disney, have stopped buying from Pakistan. Disney used to import $200 million worth of goods from Pakistan every year.
Idrees Mahsud, Deputy Secretary Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, and Saghir Bukhari, Senior Specialist ILO Islamabad, disclosed that a debriefing session would be held in Islamabad the next day where all issues would be discussed and future action plan would be decided by the stakeholders.-PR
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