21:22
Unknown
Karachi
The horrific Baldia factory fire in September this year that claimed over 250 lives was apparently not enough to wake up the government’s welfare labourer institutes from their slumber as they are still not making any efforts to register the thousands of employees working at the city’s factories.
The registration would have paved way for ensuring safety measures at workplaces so that a tragedy like the one in Baldia does not recur, but the death of so many workers in that blaze failed to change the attitude of the authorities.
Besides, the high court had also ordered the authorities concerned to register industrial workers, but the directives remain unimplemented.
There are 5,000 industrial units in Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) and only half of them are registered with the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (Sessi) and the Labour Department.
According to a survey conducted by The News, there are around 500,000 or 600,000 workers are these 2,500 industries. However, only 100,000 of them are registered with these institutes.
These unregistered workers have been serving in these industries for a long time and no efforts are being made to register them. There is also no action against the industrialists who did not have their workers registered. As per Sessi and the EOBI specifications, any industry where a minimum of five workers are working should have its employees registered with these organisations.
Benefits
The registration of workers is necessary as employees are not entitled to the perks and privileges which these institutes offer them if they are unregistered.
The benefits for registered workers offered by these institutes include issuance of pension, medical facilities, an eight working hours schedule, implementation of the minimum wage and awarding of death grant in case of a worker’s demise.
Generally, labour inspectors are responsible for visiting factories and have the workers registered. They are also supposed to make the owners of the factories pay some money to the EOBI and Sessi on a monthly basis.
The owners are required to pay Rs480 per month for each worker to the EOBI and Rs600 to Sessi.
Technical flaw
There is also a technical flaw in the provisions of Sessi on the salary limit for the registration of workers as it registers only those workers who are paid less than Rs10,000.
Usually, the employers take advantage of this technical slip and in connivance with the officials of the EOBI, Sessi and the Labour Department, they give the false impression that the workers are receiving more than Rs10,000 per month and avert the registration.
After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, labour issues have become the sole responsibility of the provincial governments, but the influence of the Centre still prevails at the EOBI. Many officials at the institute have been appointed on a political basis.
Some industrialists have also set up their industrial units in residential areas of Korangi Industrial Area, including Bilal and Gulzar colonies, to deprive the workers of their rights. This also helps them avoid being billed at the higher commercial tariff of electricity.
The horrific Baldia factory fire in September this year that claimed over 250 lives was apparently not enough to wake up the government’s welfare labourer institutes from their slumber as they are still not making any efforts to register the thousands of employees working at the city’s factories.
The registration would have paved way for ensuring safety measures at workplaces so that a tragedy like the one in Baldia does not recur, but the death of so many workers in that blaze failed to change the attitude of the authorities.
Besides, the high court had also ordered the authorities concerned to register industrial workers, but the directives remain unimplemented.
There are 5,000 industrial units in Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) and only half of them are registered with the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (Sessi) and the Labour Department.
According to a survey conducted by The News, there are around 500,000 or 600,000 workers are these 2,500 industries. However, only 100,000 of them are registered with these institutes.
These unregistered workers have been serving in these industries for a long time and no efforts are being made to register them. There is also no action against the industrialists who did not have their workers registered. As per Sessi and the EOBI specifications, any industry where a minimum of five workers are working should have its employees registered with these organisations.
Benefits
The registration of workers is necessary as employees are not entitled to the perks and privileges which these institutes offer them if they are unregistered.
The benefits for registered workers offered by these institutes include issuance of pension, medical facilities, an eight working hours schedule, implementation of the minimum wage and awarding of death grant in case of a worker’s demise.
Generally, labour inspectors are responsible for visiting factories and have the workers registered. They are also supposed to make the owners of the factories pay some money to the EOBI and Sessi on a monthly basis.
The owners are required to pay Rs480 per month for each worker to the EOBI and Rs600 to Sessi.
Technical flaw
There is also a technical flaw in the provisions of Sessi on the salary limit for the registration of workers as it registers only those workers who are paid less than Rs10,000.
Usually, the employers take advantage of this technical slip and in connivance with the officials of the EOBI, Sessi and the Labour Department, they give the false impression that the workers are receiving more than Rs10,000 per month and avert the registration.
After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, labour issues have become the sole responsibility of the provincial governments, but the influence of the Centre still prevails at the EOBI. Many officials at the institute have been appointed on a political basis.
Some industrialists have also set up their industrial units in residential areas of Korangi Industrial Area, including Bilal and Gulzar colonies, to deprive the workers of their rights. This also helps them avoid being billed at the higher commercial tariff of electricity.
Posted in: Karachi News
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