March 4, 2024
By Shaukat Korai
KARACHI:
In November 2023, the Sindh government raised the minimum salary of unskilled workers from Rs25,000 to Rs32,000. But, despite this adjustment, a majority of home-based women workers continue to earn below the minimum wage of Rs32,000.
“Ninety-five percent of the business ventures employing home-based workers fail to adhere to the government-mandated wage,” says NasirMansoor, a member of the Sindh Minimum Wages Board. “Even factory owners who attend our meetings deny these workers the minimum wage.
A home-based woman worker, residing in Godhra, a backward area of Karachi, is currently earning a salary of less than Rs20,000. The disparity in wages among home-based workers in her area is common, while some receive Rs20,000, others are paid as little as Rs10,000.
She complains that whenever they request a salary increase, they are met with resistance. “We are told that the salary will not be increased and if this amount is not acceptable to us, we are free to leave,” she adds.
ZehraKhan,General Secretary Home Based Women Workers Federation, says it is easy to legislate on minimum wage but almost impossible to get it implemented.
The majority of home-based women workers are engaged through third-party arrangements, where their daily wages can range from Rs200 to Rs300. “The labour department is fully aware of this unfortunate reality. Yet, they fail to fully enforce the law,” she says.
Iqbal Ahmed Detho, Chairman Sindh Human Rights Commission, says that complaints have been received about home-based workers, as well as security guards and sanitary workers, that they are not paid minimum wage,” he adds.
Detho has written to the relevant government authorities in this regard.
According to women workers, during this time of inflation, they cannot survive even with a salary of Rs32,000, but the factory owners are not ready to implement the government’s announcement.
Additionally, “they are not paid gratuity or social security”.
Women workers assert that the Sindh Labour Department bears responsibility for the non-implementation of the government notified minimum wage.
Nasir Mansoor says that both the government and factory owners show a lack of interest in enforcing the law. “Home-based workers will initiate a protest movement after Eid if the workers continue to be denied the government-mandated minimum wage,” he says.