ISLAMABAD: More than 60 per cent of workplaces in the federal capital are violating the labour laws, which have a detrimental effect on the female workers.
This was revealed by the Women Workers Alliance (WWA) in a convention here Tuesday.
The alliance had conducted the monitoring of various workplaces at public, private and industrial employment sectors and interviewed 250 women workers and found out that the working women were worst affected by the non-compliance of labour laws in these employment sectors.
Federal Ombudsperson for Anti-sexual Harassment of Women at Workplaces Kashmala Tariq in her keynote address stated that the office of federal ombudsperson was open to the public, and added, “You can visit the office anytime, with your concerns specifically including the issues of sexual harassment.”
She said that her “office will address the complaints within 60 days of the filing of the complaint.” She added that it was important for the public in general and women, in particular, to raise their voice and speak for their issues.
Women Workers’ Alliance, Islamabad is being facilitated by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability under a project, Women Action for Better Workplaces, funded by Embassy of Netherlands.
The alliance noted that the violations of labour laws in the public sector were assumed to be less than the other sectors, however, more than 70 per cent of public sector organisations either did not have a protection against sexual harassment committee or even if the committee was notified, it was not effective.
The code of conduct against sexual harassment was not displayed in more than 90 per cent of the public offices.
It had also been noted that daily wage employment, in which more than 500 women teachers and 80 women were employed in one of the federal authorities, was a gross violation of the labour laws.
Most of these workers were working for the last five to six years and their wages had not been paid for the last six months. The Women Workers’ Alliance called for immediate release of their salaries and demanded a permanent status for these workers.