On June 21 the National Assembly passed the annual Finance Bill, with effect from July 1. Or did it? And what was it that was passed anyway?
By law, the Finance Bill is passed to establish the annual budget. It is limited to this specific purpose. It cannot change or amend other laws. And as in the case of all legislation, it must be passed by both houses of parliament, in accordance with article 70 of the constitution.
But the military rulers of Pakistan have never shown any regard to legality or constitutionalism, and nor have the country’s politicians ever shown the capacity to stand up to them. When the Finance Bill was introduced to the National Assembly by the prime minister, who is also finance minister, the people’s so-called elected representatives dumbly raised their hands and passed the bill without even reading it. And in a blatantly illegal act, the government then adopted the bill without submitting it to the Senate.
What was in the bill that the government was so keen to hustle it through without debate or a second reading? In fact, the “finance” bill is no such thing. It is a bill that is intended to expand slave labour practices in Pakistan by illegal amendments of a series of laws intended to protect workers’ rights. The effect of the bill is to allow for the easy extraction of labour from the poorest people in Pakistan.
The Finance Bill has illegally introduced amendments to the following laws: the Factories Act 1934; Shops & Establishment Ordinance 1969; West Pakistan Industrial & Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance 1968; Workers Welfare Fund Ordinance 1971; and the Employees’ Old-age Benefits (EOBI) Act 1976. Some of the consequences that flow from these illegal amendments are as follows.
By amending the Shops & Establishment Ordinance, the government has increased daily working hours from eight to 12 hours. The compulsory weekly holiday has been abolished. Provisions to bar females from working in factories before sunrise and after sunset under sections 38 and 45 of the Factories Act have been amended; employers may now force them to work two shifts at a time, up to 10pm. A new category of “contract worker” has been added to the Standing Orders Ordinance. These workers will not be entitled to compensation for overtime. In addition, the ceiling on overtime has been raised from 150 hours to 624 hours a year for adults and from 100 hours to 468 hours for juveniles. The scope of both the Workers Welfare Fund and EOBI has also been restricted. Registration with the EOBI will from now on be compulsory only for establishments employing 20 or more workers, a hugely regressive step that will drastically curtail its applicability and deprive millions of workers of their fundamental rights.
This illegal bill that was passed without debate and without upper house review under the cloak of “finance” legislation is set to throw millions of Pakistani workers back into an age of barbarism and slave labour from which they have barely managed to emerge. It removes legal defences, increases working time, reduces earnings and exposes women and children to greater exploitation. It will spread poverty, worsen health and intensify mental and social disorder in a society that is already suffering intensely from a multitude of pressures and conflicts.
The Asian Human Rights Commission supports the struggle of all workers and other concerned persons in Pakistan against this unconstitutional and illegitimate government action. It calls for widespread public resistance and protest to its inhumane and unacceptable provisions, which aim to return the workforce of Pakistan to the 17th century.
The AHRC especially appeals to the International Labour Organisation to intervene and stop the government of Pakistan from introducing these measures as they are in violation not only of domestic law but also the organisation’s charter. It also calls upon the UN Human Rights Council to take up the issue at its second session, in particular in view of the fact that Pakistan is sitting as a member.
Attempting to ensure decent work with adequate time for leisure and an end to exploitation, including bonded labour and child labour, is a responsibility of every state. In Pakistan, it is a constitutional obligation, although the government has historically shown little inclination to recognise its institution where not suited to its purposes. If the government’s real objective was to increase workers’ income, then it should legislate on minimum wages, maximum working hours, healthy conditions and fair labour practices. As of June 21, it has done the exact opposite.
