KARACHI: The heirs of the victims of Ali Enterprises Baldia factory fire and representatives of labour organisations expresses serious concerns over the pact of International Labour Organisation (ILO) with an insurance company regarding compensation money given by a German brand for the heirs.

They have rejected by terming it ‘non-transparent’ during a press conference called at the Karachi Press Club here on Wednesday.

Addressing the press conference, leaders of the Association of Affectees of Baldia Factory Fire, National Trade Union Federation Pakistan, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, Home Based Women Workers Federation, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and SITE Labour Forum including Muhammad Siddique, Hussain Khan, Nasir Mansoor, Karamat Ali, Asad Iqbal Butt, Zehra Khan and Riaz Abbasi said that the ILO took a unilateral decision without taking the real party in confidence. They said that the interests of labours should be safeguarded at all costs.

They said that the general body meeting of Association of the Affectees of Baldia Factory Fire was held in Karachi on Sunday in which they took some important decisions.

Sadly, the ILO while violating the deal and despite repeated demands of the heirs, kept the compensation funds for last five years and distributed monthly compensations among the heirs through SESSI. Hence, a big chuck of these funds was spent and the heirs and stakeholders were not informed about it. The participants of the press conference said that the ILO was responsible for all this.

Under this deal an oversight advisory committee was formed at the Pakistan level to distribute these funds and take care of the related issues with representation of the government, labour organisations, heirs and factory owners.

The heirs demanded that as per the deal, the compensation funds should be brought to Pakistan and invested with mutual consultation to ensure life-long assistance of the heirs and affected people. In this regard, the association of the heirs and labourer organisations in consultation with noted Pakistani lawyers shared an investment plan with the ILO, but the ILO didn’t respond.

The heirs of the 260 martyrs of Baldia factory fire and dozens of injured and their local and international supporter labour organisations had, after a great struggle, inked a deal with the German brand KIK that had agreed to pay a long-term compensation of $5.1 million.

The representative of KIK had signed the deal in 2016 with workers organisations under ILO, IndustriAll Global and Clean Cloth Campaign and the funds were to be given to ILO’s Geneva office.

They said that the ILO didn’t play any role in helping the affected people. It ignored the demands of the heirs and stakeholder labour organisations and took unilateral and non-transparent decisions while also implementing them.

It was pointed out that the ILO convened a meeting on Dec 15 when a member of the oversight advisory committee and patron of the association of the affected workers, Saeeda Khatoon was hospitalised for treatment of cancer, another member Nasir Mansoor was abroad and the third member Karamat Ali was ill.

The ILO was requested to postpone the meeting, but all in vain. It was in this meeting that the ILO ratified a contract with an insurance company, which had already been signed before the meeting without consultation with the stakeholders who were not told about this contract.

The ILO had no right to sign a deal about the funds of the heirs without consultation with them in this non-transparent manner. After this deal, some officials of the ILO Karachi office with the help of a SESSI employee are harassing the heirs and forcing them to sign some documents typed in English, which they have difficulty reading and understanding. It has created unrest among the heirs of the martyred workers.

They said that after the international agreement between the German brand and labour organisations, the Sindh government and the Labour Department are the essential parties of the contract and the monthly compensation through SESSI was started through them.

However, the labour department failed to play its due role and didn’t take all the members of the oversight advisory committee into confidence.

It was said that the contract with the insurance company before the meeting of the oversight advisory committee and without any consultation is the worst example of non-transparency and an attack on the basic and democratic right of the heirs. The affected people demanded that the ILO should invest the compensation funds after consultation with the heirs and stakeholder labour organisations.

They also asked to summon a meeting of the oversight advisory committee and all documents including that of the deal with the insurance company to be shared with its members.

They also asked the SESSI commissioner to start a probe against their employee – Maroof – for forcing the heirs to sign papers and to hold responsible those officers who caused the decrease in the original compensation funds.

They said that the Compensation Commissioner decide the gratuity cases of the deceased workers and ensure EOBI pension for the parents of the martyred workers in the light of the decision of the Sindh High Court.

Finally, they also demanded a stop to the selling of the affected factory. They wished for a monument erected there in memory of the martyred workers.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2023