Labour

Labour Welfare

District Labour Office works under Directorate of Labour Welfare, Punjab. This department is governed under the provisions of Constitution of Pakistan and at the same time under international obligations signed and ratified through United Nations specialized agency, International Labour Organization’s Conventions. The Constitution of Pakistan has wide range of provisions in regard to Labour Rights as article 11,17,18,25 and 37(e) prohibiting all forms of Child Labour, Bonded Labour and allows freedom of association, right to unionize. At the same time, Pakistan has ratified 36 conventions of ILO comprising 8 Fundamental Rights, 2 Governance Conventions and 26 Technical Conventions.

District Labour Office, Vehari was established as district level office in 1976 headed by Labour Inspector, later on it was upgraded in 1998 and from 2007 it has been headed by Labour Officer and Assistant Director, Labour Welfare respectively.

Staff

Office Incharge is Assistant Director (BS-17), Assistant Director and Labour Inspector are inspecting staff.

Major Responsibilities of the Office

The major responsibilities of the office are stated as follows:

• Maintenance of industrial peace in the District by pre-empting Industrial disturbances through counseling to the parties and arranging periodical meetings of representative of employers and workers through District Vigilance Committee under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Vehari
• Implementation of Labour Laws through effective inspection, reconciliation and adjudication under different laws like Factories Act, 1934, The Punjab Shops and Establishment Ordinance, 1969 Minimum Wages Act 2019, The Punjab Industrial and Commercial (Standing Orders) Ordinance, 1968, The Punjab Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1992, The Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns, 2016 and The Restriction on Employment of Children Act, 2016
• Registration and de-registration of factories, shops and commercial establishments under the relevant laws
• Welfare Schemes for Industrial Workers, Marriage Grants, Death Grants, Talent Scholarships and Provision of plots / flats in Labour Colonies. Death grant to deceased worker is Rs: 600,000/-. Marriage grant for the daughter of worker is Rs: 200,000/-. Talent scholarship is category based. In this all the education dues (fee plus hostel dues) are paid along with scholarship amount depending on degree varying from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 5,000per month

Major Achievements

The major achievements of this office are listed in the following:

• Out of 364 brick kilns, 310 are functional and 146 bricks kilns have been converted into Zigzag Technology. This is combined task of Environment Department and Labour Department under direct supervision of Deputy Commissioner. This conversion ratio is highest in the South Punjab. By the end of December 2020, it would cross the figure of 205
• This office started a training/consultancy for newly enacted Occupational Health and Safety act 2019 with the help of a consultancy firm, imparting training to employer regarding health and safety of the workers. Initially, this office has scheduled training of 3 ghee mills of Burewala and one feed mill of Vehari. This training is free of cost
• Maintaining industrial peace is one of the major functions of the department. This department has successfully negotiated the matters between employers and trade unions and no strike has happened during past three years

This department is working on implementation of Minimum Wages and Child Labour and Deputy Commissioner is directly supervising this task through District Vigilance Committee.