The government has promoted PLC as a means to attract greater investment to the province. However, it exposes the underlying intent: to make labour cheaper, more flexible, and easily disposable in the service of commercial gain.
The new code, by favouring business interest over worker rights will institutionalise a model of development rooted in labour exploitation rather than equitable and sustainable progress. In effect, it shifts the paradigm of labour relations in Pakistan away from social justice and human rights and toward corporate flexibility and state control.
The most significant points of contention include the legalisation of the contract labour system, restrictions on trade unions, the abolition of the right to strike and provisions that could legitimise child labour. It does not only legalise the contract system, which will lead to the elimination of job security, but also provides legal cover to the advance payment (Peshgi) system in the kiln industry, a practice that has historically led to bonded labour.
It contravenes Article 17 of the Constitution of Pakistan and ILO Fundamental Conventions 144-C and 87. Various other issues, such as the appointment of judges and bureaucratic centralisation, are also under scrutiny.
With 467 sections spread over 315 pages, the code is seen as overly complex, making it difficult for workers to understand their rights. Various sections of the code are interdependent, requiring readers to constantly cross-reference different parts of the document, further complicating the interpretation of the law.
Effect on children
Labour organisations and child rights activists are critical of the PLC’s provisions related to children. According to the labour groups, it will increase the volume of child labour in the province as it fails to create opportunities for adequate educational and training facilities for children below the age of 16. In developed countries where children are involved in light work, they mostly get light work assignments related to their educational field and future career, so that in addition to money, they can get training.
According to Section 23 (1), no child below the age of 16 years shall be engaged or permitted to work in any occupation or process. However, Section 24 states that engagement of children in light work can be in the age of 14 years but under 16.
The terminology is confusing here. If Section 23 defines work as labour and section 24 defines work as light work, so who will be able to differentiate it in a province where 40 percent children are not registered; where there is no dedicated child labour inspection system.
According to International Labour Organization (ILO), there is insufficient staffing of labour inspectors, limited training on child labour issues, and lack of coordination between inspection authorities and child protection systems in Pakistan. The jurisdiction of labour inspectors is often limited to the formal sector.
Additionally, the code introduces presumptions about child labour, particularly in informal sector like brick kilns and domestic work, which, the labour groups believe, will only worsen the situation.
Ironically, child domestic labour (CDL) is not included in Schedule 2; List of Hazardous Works. Though Schedule 2 includes; working with sewer pipelines, pits and storage tanks; Lifting and carrying of heavy weight (15kg and above); Spice grinding; Cooking food in restaurants and as business; Night work etc but does not contain CDL.
Although these mentioned activities and several other included in Schedule 2 are performed by child domestic workers daily. It is a long demanded plea of child rights activists to include CDL in the list of hazardous works.
Similarly, the code dismantles legal protections against child labour. Laws such as the Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933 and provincial legislation like the Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Act 2016 are being nullified, which could potentially increase child exploitation, especially in the informal and unregulated sectors.
These repeals directly contradict Pakistan’s commitments to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant ILO conventions on child labour.
Nonetheless, women workers stand to lose significantly which will affect the children directly. The repeal of the Punjab Maternity Benefit Ordinance 1958 puts critical health and social protections for women at risk, leaving women vulnerable during pregnancy, childbirth, and maternity leave. Twelve weeks of maternity protection provided under the 1958 Maternity Ordinance have been halved to just 6 weeks under the draft PLC. It directly hits the children’s right to survival.
At the family level, if job security of the labourers will be at risk, they will be hired on temporary contracts, and they don’t have a right to choose their representatives to form a powerful union, then there will be increased unemployment, poor bargain power and economic exploitation of labour, which will adversely affect the children.
This code provides legal cover to Peshgi system, creating more bonded labour; children in the family will also be the part of bonded labour. The cycle of indebtedness and family’s poor financial condition will directly affect the needs and rights of children.
In sum, if children are vulnerable in any society, the country cannot produce healthy and efficient citizens and cannot lead to the path of progress.
Any legislation, including the Punjab Labour Code 2024, must be developed with section-by-section consultation with workers’ representative organisations as required under the ILO conventions. The paradigm of labour relations should be based on social justice and human rights in Pakistan.