All the conspiracies to impose the Sindh Labor Code through the backdoor will be defeated – Labor Conference
Karachi, Sindh
Terming ‘Sindh Labor Code’ a Charter of Slavery, the trade union leaders on Sunday vowed that all the conspiracies to impose the Sindh Labor Code through the backdoor will be defeated.
“Ensuring a living wage is essential for industrial peace, and any attempt to enforce lawlessness in factories will be met with strong resistance from workers,” they said addressing a “Labor Conference” of textile, garment, shoe, and leather sectors, organized by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) Pakistan and the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF).
The conference was chaired by HBWWF General Secretary Comrade Zehra Khan and witnessed massive participation from workers, including home-based workers from major industrial zones of Karachi.
Raiz Abbasi of the NTUF strongly condemned the ILO’s collaboration with provincial governments under the guise of the Punjab and Sindh Labor Codes to abolish workers’ legal right to permanent employment. He asserted that the real objective of the code was to legalize the exploitative contract system, suppress workers’ right to strike and unionize, and ultimately weaken their collective power.
He added that the proposed code legitimized bonded labor through the deceptive concept of “advance loans,” institutionalizing the buying and selling of workers. It contradicted the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act, 1992, violated the Constitution of Pakistan, defies ILO conventions, and threatened to reintroduce slavery in the name of legal reform.
The reintroduction of peshgi (advance payment) through the banks or contracts, and the narrow definition of bonded labor in the draft were deemed unacceptable. These practices form the foundation of modern-day slavery in Pakistan and must be abolished, not regulated.
Zehra Khan of HBWWF said that the code seeks to safeguard the interests of industrialists and bureaucracy, not workers. The ILO, acting in tandem with international financial institutions and the World Bank, was accused of playing a neocolonial role to crush worker resistance in the Global South.
She emphasized that both federal and provincial governments had become facilitators of this anti-worker agenda. The Punjab government, continuing its anti-labor tradition, had already approved the code despite widespread objections and aimed to push it through the assembly. In Sindh, the government sent the draft to the law department without consulting labor organizations, contrary to its commitment. After strong protests, the labor minister promised to share the final draft with workers’ representatives.
Qamar Ul Hassan of IUF has warned the PPP-led Sindh government not to follow Punjab’s repressive path, or risk permanent disgrace for forcibly enforcing such an anti-worker code.
He also expressed grave concern over skyrocketing inflation that had made basic necessities unaffordable. Under pressure from international financial institutions, the state was abandoning its constitutional obligations, including free education and healthcare, employment guarantees, housing, affordable transport, electricity, and water. The struggle to access these basic rights was making life unbearable for ordinary people.
Nasir Mansoor of NTUF said that the federal government had failed to announce any wage increase, the minimum wages declared by Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained disgracefully low. Assembly members’ salaries continue to rise, yet wages for 90 million workers remained far below subsistence level.
In addition, workers were being illegally dismissed in large numbers, protests were being met with violence, and unionization efforts were being sabotaged through collusion between factory owners and corrupt labor department officials. Cases of harassment and violence against women workers were also on the rise.
He said that Pakistani factories producing garments for international brands that were signatories to the Pakistan Accord were openly violating the agreement, where the harassment of women workers and union activists had become routine.
He added that amid increasing lawlessness, exploitative labor laws, and anti-worker economic policies, workers were left with no option but to organize broad and determined resistance.
Khizer Qazi of HRCP said that unity among workers is needed to resolve all the issues and we demand decent wages for all workers.
Speakers at the Labor Conference included Habibuddin Junedi (People’s Labour Bureau), Khalid Khan (National Labor Federation), Liaqat Ali Sahi (Democratic Workers Union), Mir Zulfiqar (WERO), Mirza Maqsoo (PILER), Aqib Hussain (National Trade Union Federation), and Saira Bano (Home-Based Women Workers Federation).
The Labor Conference made the following demands:
- The Sindh & Punjab government must halt their attempts to impose the labor code without meaningful consultation with workers.
- A living wage must be declared as the legal minimum wage.
- Mandatory registration for social security and pensions must be ensured.
- Strict action must be taken against the illegal contract system in factories and workplaces.
- Corrupt labor department officials obstructing unionization must be dismissed.
- International fashion brands must uphold their responsibility toward workers’ rights. Pakistan Accord and Global Framework Agreements should be respected in true and practical terms.
- Concrete measures must be taken to end harassment and violence against women workers.
- Illegal dismissals and mistreatment of workers must stop immediately.
Read: Punjab / Sindh Labor Code: An Assault on Workers’ Class Identity and Unity
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