UNDERSTANDING why the working class in Pakistan opposes the Sindh Labour Code (SLC) proposed by the International Labour Organ­ization (ILO) and the Sindh government is crucial. Wor­kers’ primary objection is that this draft was presented without undergoing the internationally and nationally agreed tripartite (workers, employers, and government) consultation process.

For such extensive fundamental changes in the current labour laws, it is essential to organise a tripartite labour conference under ILO Convention 144, 1976, and announce a labour policy based on the unanimous recommendations of this conference. Subsequently, labour laws should be formulated and legislated in light of this policy.

Neither at the federal nor provincial level has any tripartite labour conference been organised, nor any federal or provincial labour policy has been announced. Despite this knowledge, preparing the draft of the Sindh Labour Code while bypassing all necessary consultation stages indicates an undemocratic and non-transparent attitude of the ILO and the government. It seems that through this code, some dangerous anti-worker actions are intended, which would have been impossible to achieve through the tripartite consultation process.

The workers’ principled stance has always been that the existing labour laws need to be improved, made more practical, easier, and worker-friendly. Unfortunately, the so-called “Labour Code”, prepared under the supervision of the ILO, indicates stripping away even those basic rights that the working class has achieved through a century-long struggle. For example, it completely abolishes the recognised legal right of workers to permanent employment for permanent nature work as stipulated in the current labour laws.

This code legalises various forms of the illegal “contract (Thaikedari) system,” including third-party contractual systems, thus imposing a wage slavery system in workplaces whose sole purpose is to provide a legal escape route for the actual employer from responsibilities.

Instead of modernising and broadening the definition of workers to align with current needs (including home-based workers, domestic platform workers, agriculture, and fisheries), this code complicates it further by dividing it into several categories. It seeks to make workers employees of contractors, sub-contractors, third-party contractors, and recruiting agencies instead of the actual employer, leaving them at the mercy of circumstances.

The sole purpose of this is to exempt the actual owners from their legal responsibilities while informalising the formal sector. The dangerous result will be that in any industrial dispute, workers will be deprived of availing any legal action, social security, pension, unionisation, bonuses, working hours, and gratuity rights against the actual employer.

The code proposes to further strengthen the inhumane system of Paishgi (advance loans), through which employers can buy and sell workers. This will worsen the lives of millions of labourers and peasant families working in kilns and fields, making their lives worse. The advance system is a modern form of slavery, a clear violation of UN and ILO conventions.

The most deplorable aspect of this code is the attempt to deprive employees in many government institutions, ranging from grades 1 to 15, of their right to unionise and collectively bargain under the current labour laws, violating ILO core conventions 87 and 98.

The right to strike is a fundamental worker’s right, which has been significantly weakened in existing labour laws, against which the working class has been continuously raising its voice. Instead of addressing workers’ objections related to the right to strike, the proposed labour code further imposes restrictions, making the right to strike practically ineffective and nearly impossible.

Instead of making the process of resolving industrial disputes accessible, easier, and time-bound for the working class, the code establishes a new parallel system where bureaucracy numerically dominates over other parties (employers and employees). This is a blatant violation of the law, which stipulates that workers and employers should have 40 per ccent representation each in labour-related tripartite committees, while government representation should be 20pc. The Sindh Labour Code grants bureaucracy unlimited powers instead of rationalising its authorities. The bureaucracy has consciously attempted to strengthen itself further under the guise of the labour code.

The workers’ unrest regarding this code is increasing. It is encouraging that the Sindh government has officially announced a three-member committee under the leadership of the provincial labour minister and comprising the secretary and director general of the labour department and the secretary of the industries department. This committee will meet stakeholders, including workers and employers, regarding the Sindh Labour Code. However, what will be the committee’s jurisdiction, how will it work, and what has it done so far, perhaps even the committee members themselves are unaware of it. If workers and employers are given representation in this committee, a serious step can be taken towards improving labour laws in Sindh.

To address the unrest among workers regarding the Labour Code, it is essential to ensure the convening of a tripartite labour conference in accordance with the ILO Convention for fundamental changes in labour laws. Labour policy should be announced after consultations, and based on this, labour laws should be restructured.

The writer is the secretary general of the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024