Meer Ishaq

Understanding the social existence

Sindh Labour Conference concludes: Balochistan to hold first tripartite conference

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By Haroon Ishaq for The Daily Times September 29, 2014

KARACHI: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch announced holding the first-ever provincial tripartite labour conference after the 18th Amendment in Quetta by the last week of October, as recommendation made on the last day of the three-day Sindh Labour Conference, that ended on Sunday. 

The conference was jointly held by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) in collaboration with labour unions, in Gulshan-e-Maymar. Workers’ unity, judicial and land reforms and imposition of international standards were discussed during the conference. Abdul Malik Baloch was the chief guest, while many renowned personalities from worker unions, civil society and political parties along with legal and economic experts were among the speakers.

Speaking on the occasion, Abdul Malik said, “By the struggle of six decade, still we could not unite the nation and the worker.”
He added that their election manifesto was focused on labour rights but due to the coalition government many agendas were still not possible to implement. 

He said that his was the only party that, in the Supreme Court, supported the land reforms. “We will ensure implementation of the recommendation of this conference in Balochistan,” he said. He added, “We had a cap of elder progressive heads but the new generation did not have enough guidance. The spirit of workers’ rights and progressive struggle should be transferred to the new generation.”

The last day’s session was presided over by IA Rahman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), who said, “Workers had more rights fifty years ago than they have today. With the passage of time, the ruling class is exempting the rights one by one.” 

He said that it was the basic right as well the duty of the working class to monitor the state machinery.

He criticised the slogan of “Naya Pakistan”, saying that the rights of workers were not represented anywhere in the so-called new Pakistan. “While everyone is talking about the constitution, there are certain articles which no one is ready to mention.” Recalling Article 3 and Article 38 of the constitution, he said that it was enshrined therein that it was the duty of state to end all type of exploitation, and that the state should provide social security.

He said that after 60 years in 2010, education was – for the first time – accepted as a basic right of the citizens, while the rights to employment, social security and health were not formally accepted as basic rights of the citizens by law.

On the third day, PILER Director Karamat Ali summarise the nine sessions of the three-day conference and put forwarded key recommendations of all sessions, which were later unanimously passed by the delegates.
“The only power in the hands of workers is organisation. Without organisation, none of the objectives of the workers is possible to achieve,” he said. 

Summarising the three-day conference, it was recommended, and passed by the conference, that labour laws should be the same everywhere in all the federating units of the state. “The land reforms should be act upon immediately. There should be proper safety and health measures for workers,” he said.

It was also recommended that a workers’ coordination committee should be constituted to organise workers and bring them all together on a single platform. “The committee, after considering the recommendations of the conference, should then get them implemented.”

It was also recommended that labour conferences like the Sindh Labour Conference should be arranged in all other provinces, while a joint federal-level conference should also be held.

The participants of the conference suggested that all provincial governments should immediately hold the provincial tripartite conferences, bringing together the labours and employers. 

The organising committee of the Sindh Labour Conference also announced holding a press conference today (Monday) at the Karachi Press Club regarding the outcomes of the three-day conference.

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