According to the Chief Executive of PILER (Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research) Karamat Ali, less than one per cent of workers in Pakistan are registered with a trade union due to the limited right to freedom of association under the Industrial Relations Act 1969. “This deprived many workers of the right of unionisation, and with later amendments, more and more were excluded from this right,” he told a conference in September 2014. Ali also emphasised the need to struggle for protecting unions and giving the security of at least minimum wages to the workers, calling for the formation of a national union.
At the same conference, retired Justice Rashee A Rizvi alleged that political parties had failed to play their role in developing trade unions. He said that they had established their wings in existing trade unions, but never attempted to make unions functional in the factories.
Women workers, almost all of whom are employed on contract in the informal sector, are placed at particular risk of being deprived of their right to freedom of association, as they fell outside the scope of the laws, lacked awareness of the rights they have and did not have their rights enforced by the authorities.
In October 2014, the home-based Women Workers Federation held a press conference at which which the general secretary of the Federation, Zehra Khan, reported that more than 12 million home-based workers are deprived of their fundamental rights in Pakistan.
“In view of the changing conditions, there should be a new definition of workers which includes workers do not just work at factories or industries. This will include home-based workers too,” Khan said.
Executive Director of Working Women Organisation Aima Mehmood reported that female labourers had less than one percent membership of trade unions. Mehmood said only five to six women had leadership positions in executive bodies of the unions while the rest were unable to benefit from direct access to the administration. “Until and unless we start prioritising the interests of the people, nothing can be achieved.”
The general secretary of Working Women Union Shaheena Kausar and president of Pakistan Workers Confederation Rubina Jamil said labour inspectors were not gender-sensitised and the system of prior notification advantaged employers instead of workers. Kausar said her organisation aimed to uplift the female workers by organising them and providing them with collective bargaining skills. Still, Kausar notes that Pakistan has not been successful in implementing the ILO Convention on equal wage for men and women with men being paid more for the same amount of work.
On 28 February 2015, the deputy general secretary of the National Trade Union Federation, Nasir Mansoor, reported that around 98 per cent of Pakistan’s total labour force is not allowed to form their own trade union. He further stated that about 95 per cent of workers are without any social security.
Mansoor said: “Pakistan is a signatory of international labour conventions since its inception yet labourers await their due rights.”
The restrictions on the right to establish and join a trade union arise from the fact that these workers are not recognised or covered by the labour laws, because of the informal or insecure nature of their work.