Labour law cover demanded
for Haris
By Pakistan Today Report
The
government should practically accept the labours of
agriculture sector as workers under the labour laws and give
them all the benefits accordingly, said speakers of a
consultation on Friday evening.
The consultation on
“applying labour laws on farm workers” was held at a local
hotel by the Sindh Agriculture General Workers Union CBA (Reg)
and National Trade Union Federation with Hari leader
and vice president of Sindh Agriculture General Workers
Union CBA Khatul Faiz in the chair.Representatives of labour
unions from different areas of Sindh, trade union leaders
and officials of Sindh labour department and International
Labour Organisation (ILO) attended the consultation.
NTUF Central Deputy General
Secretary Nasir Mansoor said it was heartening that in Sindh
the workers belonging to agriculture sector were recognised
as workers.
However, it was necessary to
provide these workers all the rights that were being enjoyed
by the other labours of Pakistan as per the labour laws, he
added.
“In 60 million workforce of
Pakistan, the workers belonging to agricultural sector are
about 60 per cent. In Sindh, the agricultural workers are
buried under the worst feudal system of dark ages.
It is the responsibility of
the provincial government to provide the agricultural
workers due facilities of social security, collective
bargaining and submitting their disputes in labour courts
for their settlement.
In this regard a tripartite
consultation should be held to give the agricultural workers
their genuine legal rights.”
Labour leader Rafiq Baloch said this was a big success of
the workers of Sindh that their NTUF friends in fisheries
and agriculture had succeeded to make their labour union.
He said now this movement was
spreading in whole province and it would give a new zeal to
the worker movement in Sindh.
Considering the peculiar
conditions of Sindh, the unity of industrial and
agricultural workers would emerge as a force against the
parties of feudal lords and industrialists, linguistic
groups and religious extremism.
Joint Labour Director Gulfam
Nabi Memon congratulated the agricultural workers on
formation of their own union and said with their cooperation
efforts would be taken to apply labour laws on them.
He said the labour department
would play its role to submit the recommendation of this
consultative meeting to the government of Sindh.
Sindh Agricultural General Workers Union CBA vice president
and Hari leader Khatul Faiz in her presidential address said
the Hari movement of Sindh was the custodian of praiseworthy
revolutionary traditions and now the workers of Sindh had
once again risen, carrying the banner of the movement
started by Haider Bux Jatoi.
She said there were 10,000
members of their union and in 13 districts of Sindh its
organisation had already been completed at district and
Taluka level including Karachi, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin,
Tando Muhammad Khan, Sanghar, Matiari, Hyderabad, Jamshoro,
Mithi, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas and Tando Allahyar Khan.
The organisation of the union
is being extended also to other districts.
It is a special feature of this union that women and workers
belonging to minorities groups are joining it in large
number.
It is the need of the hour
that millions of labours working in farms and fields should
be granted all their rights under the labour laws including
registration with the social security institutions,
effectives steps of health and safety at workplace, minimum
wages, grants, residential schemes, pensions and other
perks.
She announced that in mid
April at big Hari-Mazdoor convention would be held in
Hyderabad in which the representatives of haris and labours
from whole Sindh would participate.
On the occasion, a seven-member working group was formed,
which would float suggestion about the rights of farm
workers under the labour laws and present them to the
government.
Other speakers included Sindh Agricultural General Workers
Union CBA president Ali Ahmed Panhwar, senior vice president
Lal Bux Sathio, ILO representative in Sindh Abid Khan,
labour leaders Gul Rehman, Riaz Abbasi, Habibur Rehman
Junaidi, Manzoor Razi, Hameed Mian, Muqadar Zaman, Zehra
Khan, Saira Feroz, Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Saleem, Muhammad
Jamal and others.
February 2015
Source: Pakistan
Today