Faisalabad: May 4, 2014. (PCP) The government must protect all workers from exploitation, violence and bondage, and regularize most unprivileged members of society engaged in informal sectors including; peasant workers, domestic workers and home-based workers for their empowerment. This was emphasized by the speakers at a Conference entitled “Visibility and Protection of Informal Labour Force: Challenges, Achievements and Opportunities” to observe May Day, held at Faisalabad on 30 April 2014, under the aegis of the Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM). Speaking on the occasion, a political & labour leader, Asim Sajjad Akhtar said, “In order to prevent economic exploitation of the labour class, the workers from all sectors must unite and take the most successful labour movements in the world as a model, and replicate their victorious strategies and avoid following their ineffective approaches for protection of labour rights in Pakistan.” “An ideology without action is meaningless, therefore the working class must promote an ideological thinking instead of materialist thinking,” he added. A political & labour leader, Arif Ayaz said, “Resistance is must when lawlessness becomes common, therefore, workers must initiate a joint struggle for the attainment of their due rights.” “It is pity that the welfare of the workers has never been the priority of the successive governments either civilian or military regime. The inflation and load-shedding is increasing with fast pace, but wages of workers and availability of jobs are decreasing due to unfriendly labour polices of the government. Therefore, the government must avoid anti-labour polices, and must adopt and strictly implement pro-labour policies for the prosperity of nation,” he added. The director of the AWAM, Nazia Sardar said, “More than 10 million women are engaged in home-based work in several sectors, including; garments, bangles, shoes, embroidery and carpet weaving among other areas. Despite their contributions to the national economy, they are denied any form of legal protection, including a minimum wage guarantee, society security and EOBI benefits. Besides, they have long working hours with no operational safety and health standards in their work area.” “The government must bring the main labour force of the informal sector under regulation and extend social protection to them,” she demanded. A women’s rights activist, Shazia George said,” Domestic Workers are exploited in the hands of employers for not having the status of worker in labor codes of Pakistan. The result is that they suffer discrimination in terms of low wages, additional working hours and harassment at the workplace.” “The lack of visibility greatly increases the potential for exploitation and abuse of such workers, so there are a steep increase in incidents of violence on domestic workers particularly children by their employers. The government must recognized them as workers and introduce laws to protect their rights,” she added. A human rights activist, Naseem Anthony said, “It is imperative to crack the influence of privileged class including landlords and industrialists for the empowerment and rights of working class. The privileged class has a power and control over resources for having strong linkages with parliamentarians, therefore, labour laws and polices are not properly implemented, and poor becomes poorer and rich becomes richer due to the indifference of the government.” “The oppression of elite class on working class will not come to an end unless workers get united and launch campaign against repression and exploitation,” he added. A Lawyer, Riffat Ahmed said, “It is sad that modern form of slavery, bonded labour is a common practice in Pakistan, and no sincere step is taken by the government to get rid of this menace despite ban on bonded labour according to the constitution of Pakistan. Therefore, the government must take effective measures to monitor the brick kilns especially, and enforce existing labour laws in letter and spirit to stop exploitation of workers’ rights.” A member of the Punjab Assembly, Dr. Najma Afzal said, “The government has made remarkable strides for the empowerment of women by ensuring their significant representation in all fields of life. The government is also making efforts to regularize the nurses, lady health workers and home-based workers for legal protection of their rights.” “Undoubtedly, females face obstacles in life due to a patriarchal society and a mindset that puts them in a position of inferiority, therefore, females must focus on improving their talent and skills, and must build a unified voice for the defense of their due rights,” she added.