‘No lessons learnt from Baldia fire six years on’

Six years have passed since the worst industrial incident of the Baldia fire, but the conditions at almost all the factories of Pakistan are still the same as workers continue to carry out their responsibilities in dangerous environments.

Workers across the country are still struggling for their fundamental rights. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has ranked Pakistan fourth in the list of the countries with the worst working conditions in the world.

More than 250 workers had died in the worst-ever factory fire incident at a garments manufacturing unit in Baldia Town on September 11, 2012.

A seminar marking the sixth anniversary of the Baldia fire was organised on Sunday by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (Piler), the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), the Rasheed Razvi Centre for Constitutional & Human Rights (RCCHR) and the Ali Enterprises Factory Fire Affectees Association (AEFFAA) at the Piler Centre.

Sindh Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice (retd) Majida Razvi presided over the event, whose chief guest was former Senate chairman Senator Raza Rabbani.

National Commission for Human Rights Member Anis Haroon, the ILO Pakistan office’s Belinda Chanda, lawyer Faisal Siddiqi, singer-activist Jawad Ahmed, Piler Executive Director Karamat Ali, NTUF central leader Nasir Mansoor, AEFFAA chief Saeeda Khatoon and Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) representative Liana were prominent among the speakers.

An eye-opener

The speakers said the 2012 disaster exposed the deplorable working conditions at the Baldia factory, non-implementation of laws, failure of the inspection system, complicity of the certification agencies with corporate interests, irresponsibility of multinational retail chains and a lack of adequate compensation and social protection system.

They said that successful implementation of fair and life-long pensions for the victims of the factory fire provided the local labour movement a strong toll for a just social security system based on international standards.

The achievement that emerged through well-coordinated alliances between local, national and global stakeholders has established that collective struggle — cross-border and cross-continent — are now essential to push for pro-people and pro-worker agendas at national level.

The success story also gave impetus to trade union and labour activists to push the Pakistan government for ratification of the ILO Convention 121 and other standards relevant to workers’ social protection and health and safety.

State’s failure

Underling the need to form an alliance of workers, the middle class and intellectuals to get fundamental rights, Senator Rabbani said that “unfortunately, we are living in a society where the state has failed to fulfil its constitutional responsibilities”.

“It is the state’s responsibility to protect its minorities and the Pakistani state has failed to do so.”

Lawyer Siddiqi said the compensation for the Baldia fire affectees was a big success for the labour organisations, adding that it became possible because of the steadfast struggle of the victims’ families as well as the support received from international human rights organisations.

He advised constructing a monument in the city’s centre to remember the workers who lost their lives.

The ILO’s Belinda said her organisation is making efforts to make workplaces safe in Pakistan. She appreciated the Sindh government for taking pro-labour measures and devising pro-labour legislation.

A lot remains to be done, she said. She expressed solidarity with the families and recognised the CCC and IndustriALL for their support.

Awards

The following were awarded for their contributions to get the victims’ families compensated: former Sindh labour minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, former labour & human resources secretary Abdul Rasheed Solangi, the German government, singer Jawad Ahmed, lawyer Faisal Siddiqi, the ILO, Piler, the NTUF, the AEFFAA, the Home-Based Workers Federation, Justice (retd) Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, the Sindh High Court Commission on Baldia Factory Fire head, the provincial labour & human resources department; the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution, the Employers Federation of Pakistan, the CCC, The Netherlands, the IndustriALL Global Union, the European Centre for Constitutional & Human Rights, the RCCHR, Germany’s Medico International, the Sindh Hosiery, Garments & General Workers Union, Vasl Artists Collective’s Adeela Suleman and the Edhi Foundation.

The journalists who were awarded for extensively covering the tragedy and campaigning for compensation and justice included Saher Baloch, Riaz Sohail, Zia Ur Rehman, Zubair Ashraf, Naeem Sahoutara, Amar Guriro, Maria Ismail, Shazia Hasan, Aslam Khokhar and the team of Dawn News programme Zara Hut Kay.