The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) has welcomed the government’s decision to keep the Employees’ Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) a federal entity. PILER Executive Director Karamat Ali in his letter to EOBI authorities said, “We have come to know that the federal government has agreed, in principle, to keep EOBI at the federal level to serve the workers of the country in a better and universal way. We fully support this decision and hope the EOBI would get more autonomy in the post-18th Amendment role.”
He said that PILER, as an institution, has been advocating and supporting the demand of the workers and trade unions to provide social security facilities to all the labour in Pakistan. It believes that social security including pension in the old age is a fundamental right of each citizen of the country, and not just a labour issue.
“We are of the view that the funds available with the EOBI are actually workers’ contributions, not a part of the federal treasury, so those funds should be spent for the welfare of workers and there should be less role of the government. As a federal organisation, the EOBI should strive hard to provide maximum facilities to the workers especially by increasing the pension amount keeping in view the soaring rate of inflation in the country.”
He also stressed the need to fully implement the ILO Convention 102 (Social Security Minimum Standards Convention, 1952) that establishes worldwide-agreed minimum standards for all nine branches of social security i.e. medical care, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit and survivors’ benefit. “In this regard, PILER has been recommending having ‘one-window’ social security facility for all the working people. All these facilities can be achieved through merger of all social security benefits into a single entity especially for provision of the universal facilities,” he said.
