KARACHI - General Secretary, Women Parliamentarians Caucus for Sindh, MPA Rana Ansari on Friday urged all political activists to join hands for stringent implementation of series of women and labour friendly laws adopted in Sindh as well as in other provinces of the country during past few years.
Addressing a session on “Ending Violence and Harassment Against Women in the World of Work,” organised by HomeNet in coordination with UN Women and Aurat Foundation, she said Sindh taking lead in introducing series of public friendly laws, mainly women and child focused, must be enforced in letter and spirit.
Mentioning that Sindh is also in process to adopt a “Labour Policy,” encompassing issues related to registration of all workers, associated with formal as well as informal sector besides addressing the issue of contract workers, she said plight of home based workers (HBWs) will be particularly addressed under the proposed legislation.
The MPA from MQM (P) said details of the much warranted labour policy to be deliberated in the coming sessions of the Sindh Assembly will ensure social, economic as well as legal empowerment of the workers without any distinction. The office bearer of Women Parliamentarians Caucus - Sindh urged all stakeholders to help the legislators as well as the concerned officials in adequate enforcement of the law already introduced and those in process of being finalised.
“This is our collective responsibility to help promote equity in the society,” she said.
Senior labour leader Karamat Ali in his detailed presentation took strong exception to the available data regarding numbers of workers associated with different spheres of industrial and commercial sector.
Lamenting that trade unionism had been ruined in a planned manner across the country, he said the culture needed to be revived on strong lines involving workers at every level with equal attention towards their socio-economic empowerment.
“Trade Unions must be revived under the forthcoming Labour Policy,” recommended the activist urging that implementation of policy must be made time bound.
Karamat Ali also suggested formation of a “workers health group to address the issue of occupation related health hazards workers are generally exposed.
The senior activist suggested that social security must not be linked to wage criterion as only a little over 20% workers are registered with the concerned departments, while 80% of them do not get even the minimum wages.
Mussarat Jabeen, Director, Sindh Department of Women Development discussed series of projects underway for women workers, including HBWs in the province. Umme Laila Azhar from HomeNet, Ghulam Nabi Memon from Sindh Labour Department,Mehwish Maria from UN Women, Mehnaz Rehman, Resident Director, Aurat Foundation - Karachi and other also spoke on the occasion.