Devolution to badly hit labour class in smaller provinces

ISLAMABAD – The devolution of the Ministry of Labour and Manpower will hit the poor labourers and the employees of the lower grades of smaller provinces, an official source told Pakistan Today.
“Several issues were not analyzed properly before the introduction of the 18th Amendment. For example, most of the revenue of the Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) is generated from Sindh and Punjab but larger part of the revenue goes to the small provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
If the EOBI too is devolved, as it has to be, along with the ministry, the lower grades employees or labourers from smaller provinces of Balochistan and KP (KPK) will suffer badly,” the source said. When asked if there was any serious attempt that the EBOI should be retained as federal subject, he said that it was argued before the 18th Amendment Implementation Committee, but it cannot be helped because it is a constitutional requirement.
The official also added that same was the case with the labour policy and all targets propounded in the policy would remain unimplemented. “The ministry has stopped taking decisions regarding the labour policy as it will be a provincial subject soon and now it is up to the provinces to retain, amend or form a new labour policy,” the official said.
When asked if the labour policy was not formulated in consultation with the provinces, the official said that provinces were consulted but it has been decided that provinces should take the important decisions as the ministry would soon be a provincial subject.
It is important to mention that the government in Labour Policy 2010 had promised to introduce minimum wage of Rs 7000 and its transaction through banks, a comprehensive Social Insurance for old-age benefits and health services, issuance of Smart Cards, establishment of a Tripartite Council on Health and Safety to identify health and safety hazards for workers at district levels, scholarships for workers’ children for higher studies like Phd, FRCS or to study abroad, extending of applicability of EBOI Act to the contingent/project employees and eliminating gender based discrimination in salaries.