HBWWF For Registration Of Home-based Workers

A rally of home-based workers on Wednesday was staged to mark the international home-based workers day and demanded of the government of Sindh to immediately start the process of registration of home-based workers

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Oct, 2021 ) :A rally of home-based workers on Wednesday was staged to mark the international home-based workers day and demanded of the government of Sindh to immediately start the process of registration of home-based workers.

The rally was staged by the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) that marched from Fawara Chowk to Karachi Press Club here.

A large number of home-based workers belonging to different sectors participated in the rally, led by HBWWF General Secretary Zehra Khan and raised slogans for their demands.

Addressing the rally, Zehra Khan said the home-based workers of Sindh through their untiring struggle have successfully got their legal status and identity recognized, which is a historic event.

She said though there is a law about home-based workers, practically the home-based workers of the province are not getting their due rights.

She said till today the HBWWF has filled the registration forms of over 3,000 home-based workers but the Sindh Labour Department has not completed the process of registering these workers.

She said the registration process is being lengthened, unnecessarily. She said despite passage of one year the forms of these home-based workers could not be verified and recorded.

She said the back-breaking price hike coupled with Covid situation has made the life of the common man miserable and the families of home-based workers are also badly affected.

She said home-based women workers can not make their ends meet despite working for long hours and they are deprived of minimum wages.

Addressing the occasion, General Secretary United Home-Based Garments Workers Union Saira Feroze said the government of Sindh has given identity to hundreds of thousands unknown home-based workers, but the real success will be when this law is being practically implemented.

She said the increase in the wages of home-based workers is negligible, while due to the Covid their real wages have already dropped.

At the end of the rally, the participants demanded the government of Sindh to speed up the process of registration of home-based workers and issue workers' cards to them.

They asked that the home-based workers should be registered with the social security departments and in this regard proper legislation should be carried out.

They said like the glass bangle industry, the Sindh Minimum Wage board should also determine the minimum wages of the home-based workers of other sectors.

They asked the workers of glass bangle industry should be given wages as per the notification of 2019.

They asked that the workers of supply chain should be given a legal identity and allowed to form their labour unions.

They demanded that the government of Sindh should earmark an annual budget for welfare of the home-based workers.

The rally participants demanded to increase the wages in proportion with the price hike.

Those spoke on the occasion included Karamat Ali of National Labour Council, Aniy Muhammad Yunus and Sajida Kausar of HBWWF, Jamila Abdul Latif of Home-based Women Bangle Workers Union, Ruqia Muhammad Hanif of United HB Workers Union, Maimona, Zahida, Nadra and others.