Pakistan : Droit du travail : un instrument d'oppression ?

Dawn,
June 30th, 2006

Labour laws: an instrument of oppression?

By Shelar Bano Khan

For Family's sake

A father of five, Mirza Akbar Ali has to work twice as hard to keep his family going. Employed on the maintenance side of a motorcycle manufacturing factory in Gulberg, Akbar hardly makes enough to feed a fairly large family.

"After working in the factory for 25 years, I only make Rs 3300 a month. That' doesn't even pay for my children's food or their education. The government has raised the salary of government officials and we are left with another law to crush us", he bellows.

Akbar's daily rigmarole begins before the crack of dawn at 3.30 am. On an empty stomach, he rushes off to Hospital Road outside Lohari Gate to collect his quota of newspaper from the Alkbar Market. By six he is free to go home for breakfast and prepare for his second job at the factory. "I had to take up a second job as a hawker, otherwise my family and I would have gone hungry", he says.

At the factory the management is instructed to keep a close watch on Akbar, who fell out of favour for his trade union activities. "I am the vice-president of the Capital Workers' Union and a Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA), a registered trade union elected by secret ballot. The CBA has the responsibility of collective bargaining with the employer and employees on matters connected with employment, non- employment and terms of employment. But a CBA is not given any chance to bargain because the employer has all the power under the existing rules".

By the time he comes home at nine at night his children are preparing to sleep. "The only time I get to spend with them is when they are about to sleep. I don't have any choice, now do I? I don't know for how long I will have this factory job because the employer has already laid off 150 out of the 500 workers without paying them any gratuity. The workers are filled with insecurity and disappointment, but they have to keep going for their families' sake", Mirza Akbar explains.