Govt asked to rectify ILO homework convention

Home-based workers on the occasion of Labour Day here on Friday demanded of the government to rectify the homework convention C177 of ILO, and approve the home-based labour policy without further delay.

This demand was made in a home-based labour convention, organised by the home-based Bangles Workers Union and home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) at Hyderabad Press Club.

The moot presided over by HBWWF central general secretary Zehra Khan was attended by a large number of women workers belonging to different sectors. It demanded from the government of Pakistan to immediately rectify the ILO’s homework convention C177. It asked the provincial government of Sindh to approve the home-based workers’ policy at an earliest and enact laws accordingly so that the millions of home-based workers could get their due rights.

Addressing the convention, the labour leaders said the day of May 1 showed that a continuous struggle and resistance was the only way to eliminate all forms of injustice and exploitation. On the Labour Day, the martyrs laying sacrifices of their lives gave a new strength and aspiration to the billions of workers for struggle against imperialism. Like the whole world in Pakistan also the industrialists make money at the cost of workers, but they are reluctant to give them their due rights as per the labour laws. The factories, industries and workplaces instead of giving the workers the right to a better life are pushing them towards death as they lack all health and safety measures.

The industrialists in order to earn more and more profit have converted the production process to non-formal sector. Resultantly, more than 70 percent of production in the country has gone to the informal sector. More than 16 million home-based workers, 80 percent of them women, have been living in pathetic conditions. These home-based workers in the eyes of law are not even workers. Despite toiling 12 to 14 hours a day, these home-based worker families get wages of Rs 3000 to Rs 6000 per month. They use their homes as factories and workplaces and also pay the bills of electricity, gas and water themselves.