Trade union rights for all | Political Economy

#Trade #union #rights #Political #Economy

Akistan is the fifth most populous country in the world, with a total population of 241 million, of which 61 % live in rural areas. Its labor force is 85.5 million, of which 23 % (19.59 million). Agriculture works 37.4 % (30 million workers), while 63 % of the workforce (51 million) is engaged in non -agricultural sectors, which is a combination of services (30 million) and industry (20.5 million). Despite having a major labor force, the working labor force has less than 3 % (2 million workers). With any move, trade unions are weak and limited. The ILO’s 2018 study has shown that Pakistan has 7,096 unions and only 1,390 collective bargaining agents.

In a historic decision (2018 SCMR 802), when the Supreme Court, when the Industrial Relations Act, 2012 (IRA 2012) declared the Constitution, proved that the IRA 2012 Implementation Regulations 3 (Implementation with agreements and agreements) and 32 (international agreements, and international agreements, with international agreements and agreements). The duty to exclude. However, the decision was not considered whether the IRA 2012 complied with the provisions of international agreements and agreements.

The right to freedom of the association is considered a social, economic and political right, which is available to all people. The principle of freedom of freedom is not only the global declaration of human rights, international and political rights, and the international, social and cultural rights of economic, social and cultural rights, but also included in the ILO Constitution (1919), the ILO Philadelphia Declaration (1944), 1944, on the 1948, 1944, 1944). The freedom of freedom and protection of the right to be done, and the 1949 (No. 98) organized and the Convention on Collective Breakfast, 1949 (No. 98).

At the Labor Conference, on May 1, the National Industrial Relations Commission and the International Labor Organization were jointly organized, we were asked to analyze the IRA 2012 status on global labor standards. For this purpose, we have considered the Constitutions, ILO basic conventions (C.87 & C.98) requirements, the comments and observations of the IOL Committee on pending cases and comments on the reports and reports of the ILO Committee of the ILO Committee for Association. The following reforms are needed to ensure compliance with IRA 2012 with relevant world -class standards.

Increasing the coverage of IRA 2012.

The IRA 2012 and its provincial variations are primarily “excluded legislation”, which are clearly and clearly except the large number of workers. The relevant IOL Convention allows authorities to restrict the right to freedom of the association for the armed forces and the police only. However, in the IRA 2012, government employees engaged in state administration, administrative and administrative employees have not been clearly excluded. Sick, weak, helpless and mentally incompetent people to treat or maintain a charity establishment or employment worker. And workers in the export processing zone. The list of the emissions is even longer. In the IRA 2012, informal sector workers, agriculture workers, construction workers, cleaning workers, platforms or gig workers, religious workers and self -employed workers, such as domestic workers, street vendors, transport workers and home -based workers are not covered.

This situation can be improved by introducing a simple worker’s definition, which includes all kinds of jobs and other types of works, clearly according to the rights of the organization and collective bargaining to all workers, except the Armed Forces and the police. This reform will also ensure that workers’ organizations have not been deprived of their proportion to their original or potential membership due to the current legal definitions of “workers” and “employer”. This reform will enhance the rights of the association’s independence and collective bargaining to the EPZ workers and enable senior administrative workers to establish and join organizations that can properly defend their professional interests.

Multiple trade union membership.

The current provisions of the IRA 2012 prohibit a number of trade union membership for a worker, even where they are in line with different jobs. Given that some workers are operating in two or three different locations, they should be allowed to join the trade union at every workplace. The current labor legislation in Pakistan does not even recognize or regulate part -time work. The first step is to recognize the existence of part -time jobs and allow workers engaged in different jobs at different workplaces to join the trade union at the relevant workplaces. In addition, the ILOCERC recommends allowing workers to simultaneously join the enterprise, sectors and trade unions at the national level.

Minimum membership requirements.

The IRA 2012 requires that at least 20 % of the workers in every third or later union get employed in the establishment as their members. This means that 100 workers will be required to register a third union with 500 workers, at a workplace. Interestingly, there are no minimum membership requirements for the first two trade unions, which means, sometimes, ‘pockets or yellow unions’ (unions formed or affected by employer to damage the rights of workers) are being registered by the employer to register the rights of the workers. The ILOCECR suggests that “there is no difference about the minimum membership need, which is not between the first two or more registered trade unions and the newly created.” Given this, it has been suggested that either eliminate the need for a minimum membership or impose it on all trade unions.

Trans-savage.

In the IRA 2012, any establishment, groups of institutions, describes “Trans Provincial” as an industry, with branches in more than one province. Given the lack of clarification under the IRA 2012, it is an international establishment, which has exploited the rights of workers’ trade unions and the rights of joining it and resolving individual complaints. It has been suggested that the definition of trans provincial institutions be amended by deciding a reasonable percentage of workers working in more than one province (such as, at least 5 % of the workers working in a province). The NIRC has also confirmed the proposal to keep an appropriate number of employees living in other provinces while registering in the Trans Province Union, in its August 2022 decisions.

The rights of minority unions.Under the IRA 2012 and its provincial changes, the rights to represent the workers in the operations, to give and declare notice of the workers are highly available to the highly representative trade unions (collective bargaining agents). The ILO CEAR has the idea that minority unions, namely non -CBA unions, should be allowed to represent their members in complaints and disciplinary proceedings. Access to check -off facilities; And giving notice and announcing a strike for their members, when the non -CBA union is the only union at the workplace.

Availability of check -off facility is essential for non -CBA unions for the stability of trade unions even after losing secret belt elections. This data can also be used to confirm the trade union membership of all registered trade unions in a workplace. The IRA 2012 prevents less than 33 % of the membership unions in the total workers in the Establishment by its members. It is recommended that the same trade union be allowed in one enterprise to work as a collective bargaining agent for its members with less than 33 % of membership. If the aforementioned trade union receives more than 33 % of the total workforce, it can be confirmed as a single collective bargaining agent. It is also important that minority unions be allowed to conduct a joint or separate collective bargaining functions by their members before conducting a CBA referendum and certification.

Is ‘Go Slow’ an unfair labor exercise?