Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 11) - Pakistan (Ratification: 1923)

The Committee notes that, with regard to the 2010 comment of the Pakistan Worker’s Federation alleging that agriculture workers have no right to freedom of association, the Government indicates that there are a number of unions registered under the 2008 Industrial Relations Act for workers engaged in the agricultural sector and that trade unions of workers engaged in the agricultural sector are also declared as collective bargaining agents. The Government indicates that it believes that the right to organize is a basic right and that it is making all efforts to protect the right of association for the workers engaged in the agriculture sector.

The Committee notes that, following the enactment of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, which transferred responsibility for labour issues from the federal to the provincial governments, industrial relations acts have been adopted in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan in 2010. To fill the resulting legal gap, the Industrial Relations Act, 2012, which applies to persons employed in the Islamabad Capital Territory, or carrying on business in more than one province, was adopted following tripartite consultations. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that these acts are applicable to all establishments (with the same exceptions), including the agriculture sector. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to confirm in its next report whether these acts apply to small agricultural holdings which do not run an establishment or farmers working on their own or with their family.