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onground
Risky
business
legislation
Union
is strength
We are quite
anger-prone as a nation. However, things come in quick succession in this
country to deviate our anger. The news of hundreds of poor factory workers
being burnt alive in Karachi and Lahore made us sufficiently angry for a
couple of days when another news item about the blasphemous film came about.
Thereafter a collective amnesia, about perhaps the worst workplace disaster
of the country, set in.
onground By Imdad
Soomro The garment
factory inferno in Karachi’s Baldia Town, which took the lives of at least
258 workers, including a number of women, points to a number of ills that
plague the system in which the labour works in our country. While incidents
where a fire is started in a public building are a common ‘phenomenon’
these days and would go to show negligence on the part of the authorities,
the case with the Karachi factory has more to it than meets the eye. Broadly speaking, Karachi
is home to different political groups and has no official department which
could dare to enforce its rules and regulations in most areas of the city.
The various departments of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), such as
Fire Brigade, City Warden (formerly known as Community Police) and Community
Development are under the influence of a ‘specific’ political party. A majority of fire
stations in the metropolis are used for activities other than what they are
officially supposed to do. On September 24, 2011, the police raided a fire
station in Korangi and arrested two dozen officials and also claimed to have
seized weapons stored inside the government facility. The early findings of the
investigation of the fire in the Baldia Town factory, named Ali Enterprises,
are that the incident was not the result of a short-circuit. Amjad Mahesar,
Electrical Inspector, Karachi division, says the whole wiring and generator
installed in the factory are in proper condition even today. Replying to a query, he
says, “Since 2003, our department has been disallowed [by the Sindh
government] to conduct the inspection of the electrification of any factory
within the province. So, the conditions of electricity and wiring in any
industrial unit are difficult to scrutinise.” Sindh Industrial Trading
Estate (SITE), the factory area where Ali Enterprises is located, is said to
be under complete control of the MQM which also has the Ministry of
Industries. A senior officer of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) tells
TNS, on conditions of anonymity, that the factory’s “plot was actually
allotted for a ground-floor, small-industry unit only. Its approved capacity
of workers was 250, but the factory owner expanded the hosiery unit into a
leather garment and denim factory and constructed two extra floors illegally
and hired 1,500 workers.” Although the contractors
clearly evaded the labour laws, no department of Sindh government or the
city government took notice. A map was prepared illegally by the SITE,
rather than the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), and the factory
owners changed the design to their own convenience. In order to avoid any
incidence of theft, they barred all exit points which, again, was an illegal
act. There were no emergency stairs for the upper floors and no fire units
whatsoever. Interestingly, the
officials of Civil Defense have issued the clearance certificate to the
factory every year. Some fire cylinders were installed but the management of
Ali Enterprises did not bother to refill the cylinders. At least 90 per cent of
factories in Karachi are working against the Factories Act
1934, yet no action has been taken against them because of the
political support enjoyed by their owners. These owners allegedly pay
billions of rupees as extortion money to their ‘supporters’. Certain
sources claim the fire occurred at Ali Enterprises because the demand for
more extortion money was not fulfilled. For the last many years,
the inspection of factories has been suspended in the country. Punjab
allowed labour inspection in factories after certain accidents occurred but,
in Sindh, it remains suspended to this day, as per the instructions of the
Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah. In Pakistan, there are
more than thirty million factory workers, but in the welfare departments
like the EOBI and the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (SESSI),
there are less than 20 per cent workers registered. The factory owners hire
contractors that not only provide them cheap labour but also afford them
freedom from all legal hassles regarding the welfare of workers. According to 17-year-old
Muhammad Asif, an injured worker who survived the inferno but lost seven
members of his family, while working on the first floor, “I heard a few
explosions and, within minutes, the whole factory was in flames.” Asif reveals there were
about 1,500 workers engaged on different floors of the factory at that time.
Due to heavy smoke, a majority of them, especially the women, lay
unconscious on the ground. Of late, Rauf Siddiqi, the
provincial minister for Industries and a senior MQM leader, has resigned
from his post following huge criticism on his department’s performance.
The factory owners have been granted bail and they are talking to the
investigating teams to arrive at any conclusion. Commissioner Karachi
Roshan Ali Sheikh tells TNS that an enquiry is underway and all those
responsible shall be taken to task. Amir Nawab, former
provincial minister for Labour and the last to resign in protest against the
newly promulgated Local Government Ordinance, says CM Sindh had prohibited
the Labour department to examine any factory within limits of Karachi, and
the Industries department, led by Rauf Siddiqi, was responsible for the
incident as they approved the map. Nawab also says the former
minister of Industries declared the road adjacent to Ali Enterprises as
commercial, even though the law prohibited this.
Risky
business By Shahzada
Irfan Ahmed The gruesome fire
incidents in Karachi and Lahore, which consumed hundreds of precious human
lives, have evoked an expected response from the government authorities and
departments. They have issued immediate orders to the concerned officials to
remove all ills overnight and make workplaces safe from future fires. It is likely that furore
over these tragic incidents will subside shortly and things will start
functioning the way they were earlier. Does this mean similar
tragedies will continue to hit us regularly and there will be no respite
from them? The answer is both yes and no, according to Anis-ul-Haq,
Secretary, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA). Haq believes if the
responsibility stays with the government the chances of avoiding such crises
are grim but, if the private sector assumes a role, things can change fast. Explaining the point, he
says APTMA has a proactive sustainable development centre which ensures
compliance with local and international fire and occupational standards. The
compliance audit is done by independent service companies who are not
vulnerable to bribe offers like some electricity and labour inspectors.
APTMA ensures regular Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSAS)
18001 audits for its members. “If they are unsatisfied with the quality of
wiring and electrification inside a factory they will never issue an
approval certificate.” Anis has floated a
proposal to the government authorities, on behalf of APTMA, to make it
compulsory for all manufacturing units to get periodic clearance
certificates from qualified private consultants. God forbid if something
wrong happens these consultants will be responsible for issuing satisfactory
reports to these units, he adds. APTMA has also felt the
heat as importers of their goods have shown their concern over the worsening
workers’ safety standards in Pakistan. “It’s a pity the Karachi
factory was producing garments for export and had been a resource base for
major international brands. If it can happen there, it can happen in any
factory which regularly bribes officials responsible for inspections.” Though periodic
inspections are effective, there are voices which call for more. They
propose introduction for a full time job cadre and induction of in-house
qualified experts in business organizations, industrial concerns etc in
Pakistan. Muhammad Asim Butt, Health
Safety & Environment (HSE) Manager, at Mari Gas Company, believes that
in most Pakistani organisations, safety is only a lip service, and not much
importance is given to HSE legislations. As HSE represents a cost, which
might be regarded as a non-productive cost in that it does not directly
contribute to the efficient provision of goods and services, it is not a
priority of the management, he adds. If there is a condition in place for
all manufacturing concerns to employ HSE officers, things would improve and
these officers will be liable for any discrepancy. What happens currently is
that FIRs are registered against a large number of individuals which have to
be quashed ultimately. Hasan Zahid, an audit and
inspection expert who regularly conducts fire safety trainings, tells TNS
all the buildings must undergo gap assessments which mean whether there
should be enough vacant spaces to help evacuate people in case of fire. He says the firefighting
equipment at a place should also be selected according to the potential fire
hazard and the type of material used there. “We need foaming systems to
extinguish fire at a chemicals factory and mere water will not do.” Zahid works with Haseen
Haseeb Corporation, Lahore, which manufactures fire protection and fire
fighting equipment, and is currently doing his PhD on the subject. He says that the concept
of passive firefighting is getting popular all over the world and Pakistan
should also follow the practice. Under this system, fire blocking doors,
smoke ejecting ducts etc are placed inside a building, which stop the fire
from spreading to other parts of the building and save the trapped workers
from suffocation. The company he works for also deals in such equipment
which he asserts is highly cost-effective. Technically, the concept
is called compartmentation and includes fire barriers, firewalls, fire
partitions and smoke barriers. Fire barriers include fire-rated walls,
floors, and ceilings which are often made of concrete, combination wood,
gypsum or masonry. Mostly, building
regulations require smoke and fire alarms, fire escape signage, egress door
identifiers, fire hydrants, open spaces, staircases left clear for
evictions, emergency lifts, mechanical ventilation, sprinkler systems and
visual aids to support evacuation plan. Ideally, the emergency signage
should be made of photoluminescent items which work on glow-in-the-dark
technologies, as conventional signs become invisible in case of power supply
suspension or smoke. Training of staff to
handle initial fire and regular fire drills are a must for every
organisation, says Asim Butt who believes this is not possible without
employing competent HSE officers. According to Butt, some
employers install fire extinguishers to fulfill the requirement of the
legislation in order to seek approval but no one knows how to operate that
equipment. The equipment is never checked and there is no training given to
the staff and as a result everyone suffers. HSE officers, he adds,
have an advisory role and are responsible for implementing the requirement
of the management system. There are international standards like OHSAS
18001, ISO 14001 & ISO 9001 for Occupational Health, Safety, Environment
and Quality which are adopted by few organisations for certification of
their HSE Management Systems. “In Pakistan, in the
absence of formal education in the area of HSE, it would be essential to
introduce HSE Management System as a subject in the semester just like other
subjects at the university level. Most of the universities in Pakistan have
environmental education but no formal syllabus on occupational health and
safety as part of their curriculum.” Last but not the least,
mere compliance with International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention C155
can do much. Under its directions, employers must ensure, as far as is
reasonably practicable, that workplaces, machinery, equipment and processes
under their control are safe and without risks to health. They must also ensure that
the chemical, physical and biological substances and agents under their
control are without risks to health when appropriate protection measures are
taken. This includes the provision, free of charge, where necessary, of
adequate protective clothing and protective equipment to prevent, as far is
reasonably practicable, risk of accidents or of adverse effects on health. Quite understandably, the
responsibility of compliance assurance should be on the private sector
organisations such as umbrella organisations, associations and bodies of
professionals. caption A matter of life and
death.
legislation By Aoun Sahi On September 20,
2012, the ILO, the Government of Pakistan, Employers Federation of Pakistan
and Pakistan Workers Federation jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) on the Decent Work Country Programme II. According to the ILO
website, decent work “sums up the aspirations of people in their working
lives. It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a
fair income, security at workplace and social protection for families,
better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom
for people to express their concerns, organise and participate in the
decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment
for all women and men.” Pakistan’s latest labour
policy of 2010 also mentions similar objectives and one of these being that
just and humane conditions of work should be guaranteed to all workers. The 1973 Constitution of
Pakistan also ensures economic and social well-being of the people and
guarantees prohibition of slavery and forced labour as well as the right to
form associations or unions. The Constitution also supports the progress of
labour legislation for the benefit of the working people. Most of the rights
and privileges secured under labour laws are protected under fundamental
rights. Interestingly, Pakistan is among the countries that have ratified
maximum conventions of the ILO. It has ratified 34 conventions including all
the Core Labour Standards (CLSs) of the ILO and also the international
instruments on rights of child and elimination of discrimination against
women. Pakistan’s labour laws
also go back to the British India, though many of them were modified later.
The number of labour-related legislation (Acts and Ordinances) is more than
73 and there are more than 85 rules and regulations made under these
legislation. These laws cover almost all aspects of labour and industry
related subjects such as wages, labour environment, labour inspection,
control of employment, rehabilitation of disabled persons, social security,
social protection and workers’ welfare. “Most of these laws are
complex and overlap in scope and content, besides providing coverage and
protection to the workforce engaged in formal economic activities,” says
Nasir Mansoor, Karachi-based Deputy General Secretary National Trade Union
Federation. “As many as 16
government departments including Labour, Industry, Environment, Civil
Defence as well as local governments are involved in the implementation of
these laws.” Mansoor also says that the
overwhelming majority of officials of the departments catering to different
aspects of labour regulations are corrupt and incapable. “Most of them are
not even aware of the basic issues and laws. Almost 94 per cent of workers
happen to be in Karachi — which means almost 65 per cent of the total
industrial labour force of the country — and do not have appointment
letters because they are not registered as workers. Ironically, more than 90
per cent industry is not registered under the Factories Act which means the
government departments do not have basic database on the concentration of
industry in different parts of the country, let alone labour.” According to official
estimates, Pakistan’s total workforce exceeds 57 million while only 2.1
million out of them are registered with provincial social security
departments. The number of registered labour in Punjab is 0.745 million
while in Sindh it is 0.6 million. Post 18th amendment, all provinces are
responsible for legislating labour related laws. All provinces developed the
Industrial Relation Acts but the ground reality has not changed at all. One major reason cited by
labour organisations on the non-compliance of labour laws in factories is
the absence of labour inspection. “Both Sindh and Punjab banned labour
inspection completely during Musharraf era,” says Khalid Mehmood,
Director, Labour Education Foundation. “It is interesting to note that
Pakistan ratified the ILO Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) in
1953. Under this convention, the government is bound to ensure that
employers and workers are educated and informed on their legal rights and
obligations concerning all aspects of labour protection and labour laws. “Although Punjab has
restarted labour inspection after the recent fire in a factory which claimed
28 lives, very little progress has been made on the issue so far. In all
these years, even Civil Defence officials were barred from entering
factories. Mark my words, the factories in Pakistan have become deathtraps
more than workplaces, and the labour is treated more like slaves!” Mehmood says most
factories lack basic facilities like drinking water, washrooms, fire
extinguishers, first-aid kits, leave alone emergency exits. The Factories
Act 1934 which is being discussed a lot these days after the huge fire in
Karachi that killed more than 300 workers is applicable to all factories
where 10 or more persons are employed. The law has clear provisions on the
inspection of factories, health and safety measures, restriction of working
hours for adults, holidays with pay and penalties for violation of clause of
the Act. Both factories — in Karachi and Lahore — where fire broke out
recently were not registered under this Act. In the Karachi factory, the
majority of the workers were working on a third-party contract and none of
them had an appointment letter. No worker was registered with the
Employees’ Old-age Benefit Institute (EOBI) and the Workers’ Welfare
Board/Fund. In Lahore, the factory had been set up in a building meant for
residential purposes. “Earlier this year, a
joint committee of different government departments was set up to find out
about illegal and hazardous factories in residential areas of the city,”
says a high official of Punjab government, on condition of anonymity.
“That the committee never met more than twice this year shows the serious
attitude of the government towards the implementation of laws related to
labour and industry.” He further says, “There
are more than 3,000 such factories in different areas of Lahore. More than
50,000 labourers work in these factories. The district government has tried
several times to relocate these factories outside the city but the owners
having close links with the politically influential people sabotaged all
such efforts.” Ameer Nawab, Sindh
minister for Labour who recently resigned from his post due to political
reasons, says the labour department had carried out more than 13,000 labour
inspections over the last four years. “We also registered some cases
against the factory owners but some of them complained to the CM who asked
us to follow procedures before going for labour inspection.” He says the real issue is
lack of coordination among different government departments responsible for
the implementation of labour and industrial laws. “There is no platform
available where these departments can share their experience and findings
with other departments. “In Sindh, only 0.4
million workers were registered with the social security department, between
1965 to 2008, but over the last four years we have registered 0.25 million
more labourers.” Labour rights activists
say there is no independent legislation on health and safety except the
Hazardous Occupation Rule 1963 under the Factories Act 1934. The concerned
laws, too, are obsolete and do not conform to international practices.
“Safety and health concerns of the workforce have usually been ignored and
not received the due attention so far,” says Sharafat Ali, a senior
official at Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler).
“The government has also not ratified the ILO Convention 155 on
Occupational Safety and Health and Convention 187 of promotional framework
for Occupational Safety and Health.” According to the Pakistan
Labour and Human Resource Statistics, the number of industrial accidents
increased from 354 to 419 during 2000 to 2008. In the year 2011 alone, the
reported number of fatal accidents went up to 101. A labour officer deputed
at Lahore says it is true that labour inspection of the factories has
started only recently, but still the inspectors have not been given the
powers to prosecute the owner on illegal practices. So the effectiveness of
labour inspection is yet to be seen. “We have only 13 labour inspectors
and 16 labour officers in Lahore. The government does not provide official
transportation or conveyance allowance to them. None of us is given on job
training.”
Union
is strength By Waqar
Gillani The diminishing
role of labour and trade unions, the undemocratic structure of unions, lack
of legal protection, weak labour department and monitoring mechanism of the
government are key factors for the non-implementation of occupational safety
rules in the factories and industries of Pakistan. Recent incidents of fire
at the Baldia Town factory in Karachi and the Bund Road shoe factory in
Lahore, which devoured more than 300 poor labourers, have been widely
condemned by the country’s trade and labour unions as much as they have
raised the question of the effectiveness and importance of these unions in
public view. Article 37 of the 1973
Constitution guarantees right to secure and humane working conditions but,
contrary to this, the situation of occupational health and safety is fast
deteriorating. There is no independent legislation on health and safety
except the Hazardous Occupation Rule 1963 under the Factories Act 1934. The
existing laws have also been rendered obsolete as they do not conform to
modern, international practices. “Labour union’s role
has increasingly minimised over the years,” says Khalid Mahmood, Director,
Labour Education Foundation, a non-government organisation. Mahmood says the Factories
Act 1934 and the Industrial Relations Ordinance 1969 both give
protection and safety to the workers. However, in 2002, General Pervez
Musharraf revised the IRO 1969 according to which the right to move court
and get stay order was taken away from the workforce. Later, in 2008, the
present government made some amendments in IRO 2002 but it failed to restore
the right to get stay from the workers. “This absence of legal cover to
workers has actually broken the bone of the unions,” says Mahmood. “If
they are fired from the job for raising voice for their rights, which
definitely includes their occupational safety and health rights, it is not
easy for them to fight that and also stay on the job.” Correspondingly, all this
has resulted in the employer’s gain, while the labour continues to work in
fear and under threat. “Frankly, if I must give the example of the
factories in Karachi and Faisalabad, two of the country’s biggest
industrial zones, workers have been sacked and fake police cases have been
registered against them — only because they dared to demand their safety
and security.” In many cases, the workers
who raised voice for their rights were “blacklisted” by the factory
owners’ lobby so that no other employer can hire them. The new Punjab Industrial
Relations Act 2010 has further weakened the role of labour unions in the
most populated province of the country. As per the Act, there cannot be a
trade union in a unit or a factory with less than 50 workers. Mahmood says the unions
need full legal cover which they cannot achieve in the absence of a free and
independent environment. Also, the informal and undemocratic structure of
labour unions, in the most cases, has aggravated the situation. The employers rule by
dividing the workforce, too. In these conditions, the role of unions has
sadly minimised. Mahmood also blames it on
improper implementation of the existing laws and a poor monitoring system by
government authorities. The unions, after the two
recent tragedies, have also come forward and demanded of the government to
start mapping the workplaces (factories) all across Pakistan, with immediate
effect. The government should also give notices to employers who do not
conform to workers’ safety rules as laid down in the Constitution. The civil society groups
argue that Pakistan ratified the International Labour Organisation’s
Labour Inspection Convention 1947 (No. 81) in 1953. Under this convention,
the government, via the labour department, is bound to ensure that employers
and workers are educated about their legal rights and obligations concerning
all aspects of labour protection and laws, and advised on compliance with
the requirements of the law. Besides, necessary provisions should be made to
enable inspectors to report on problem areas that are not covered by laws
and regulations. These and many other pro-labour laws are made redundant by
the absence of an effective labour inspection system and a tripartite
consultation on labour, a weak labour union structure and lack of interest
of state institutions for capacity building of workers to protect their
interests. The labour departments of
Sindh and Punjab need to be taken to task for turning a blind eye to the
violation of health and safety provisions in the two factories, the
provincial and the National Assembly for ignoring the ban on labour
inspection, and the building control departments for allowing violation of
building control codes in the two cities. The civil society also
stresses upon the government to ratify the ILO Convention 155 and 187 that
provide for the formulation of a comprehensive labour protection and
inspection policy in Pakistan. Conventions 155 and 187 will also provide a
base line to address the issue of health and safety at national, industrial
and enterprise levels. Farooq Sulehria, a
journalist and activist, is of the view that the incidents of fire in
factories did not start “just like that”: “It’s a story that goes
back three decades. The Zia dictatorship crushed trade unions to disempower
workers.” He recalls the massacre at
Colony Textiles Multan in January 1978 that left 300 dead but figured
nowhere in mainstream narratives. Dozens of labour leaders have been
implicated in terrorism cases merely because they dared to organise union
struggles. When Gen Musharraf took over, his henchman in Punjab Chaudhry
Pervez Elahi banned labour inspections. Sulehria also says that in
most workplaces, particularly in the private sector where workers have not
been able to unionise, the working conditions remind one of the 18th century
Europe and America. “Hardly four per cent of workforce in Pakistan is
unionised. This shows the workers’ vulnerability. At the same time, the
term ‘trade union’ has been vilified at the state level. Unionism in
mainstream discourses is often synonymous with gangsterism. No doubt, the
union leadership and trade union movement are also to blame for certain
failures.” He identifies that in the
absence of unions the factory owners have turned their industrial units into
industrial gulags. Health and safety, sanitation and hygiene or
environmental hazards are issues which can not be separated from general
working conditions — decent wages, 8-hour workdays, job training, paid
holidays, universal pension, insurance etc. “Most of the industrial
struggles in Pakistan, in recent years, have centred around wage-increase in
the private sector [or against workers’ downsizing in the public sector].
From my own experience, I can say that workers often prioritise
wage-increase over health and safety issue when they raise demands. “To cut it short, I am
stressing two points. Firstly, we have to have implementation of labour laws
at workplaces, most importantly, labour inspections to ensure workplace
safety. And, this seems utopian in the absence of strong unions at plants. [
I refuse to pin any hopes in the government, judiciary, ILO, labour
departments: they all connive against workers]. Secondly, unless there is a
generalised improvement in the working conditions, health and safety at the
workplace will remain an illusion.” The National Trade Union
Federation (NTUF) of Pakistan has appealed to international workers’
bodies to mount pressure on international brands and labels to force the
local manufacture of strict observance on labour related laws and workplace
safety standards as envisaged in ILO conventions as well as in country laws.
“Around 97 per cent
factories and industries of the country are without a union,” says Niaz
Khan, General Secretary, NTUF. “It has been observed that wherever there
is trade or labour union in a factory the number of accidents naturally
decreases.” However, he says, even the
unions are working under threatened conditions because of weak legal covers.
Legally, they have many rights but practically these rights are never given.
He also speaks of breaking
the “industrialist-politician nexus”. “Forming a union or raising your
voice for your workers has become synonymous with crime. In Punjab, in the
last three years, more than 15 trade unions have been practically crushed
using police force and terrorism cases have been filed against workers and
unions’ office bearers.” vaqargillani@gmail.com |
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