KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Labour, Human Resources, and Social Protection, Saeed Ghani, on Sunday, warned of shrinking of the labour movement over the next ten years if trade unionists continue to follow outdated methods of labour politics.
He urged workers’ representatives to adapt to changing times and evolving circumstances to safeguard their future.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected office-bearers of the All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (APNEC) at the Karachi Press Club.
He stressed the need to bring significant reforms within trade unions. The process of universalising social security had begun, with the launch of the Benazir Mazdoor Card being an important step in that direction.
Ghani said the government aimed to bring every category of worker — including journalists, private-sector employees, rickshaw and taxi drivers, private drivers, and street vendors — under the social security net.
He explained that the initiative will provide free high-quality education for workers’ children and free medical facilities for their entire families, including their parents.
Congratulating the newly elected APNEC chairman and office-bearers, Ghani recalled his own journey from trade union activism to provincial politics.
The Minister and PPP Karachi President said he never felt ashamed of being a trade union worker and has always regarded his political ascent as part of a collective struggle with his fellow workers. Ghani said that he was serving as Labour Minister for the third time and that Pakistan Peoples Party’s policy on workers’ welfare was clear and consistent: “We are pro-workers, and our stance will remain inclined towards workers and their unions.”
He acknowledged that his pace of work in the current term was slower due to several ongoing reforms.
Ghani highlighted that the existing laws of the Social Security and Workers Welfare Board applied only to industrial workers, whose contributions were paid by their employers.
For expansion of coverage, he said the previous PPP government had initiated the concept of universal social security in 2008.
He explained that under the revised Social Security Act, self-employed and informal-sector workers could also be registered, though a complete mechanism was still being developed.
The Benazir Mazdoor Card, he said, would eventually extend beyond the 600,000 registered industrial workers to millions of other labourers across Sindh.
Ghani said one challenge still under discussion was the question of contributions from self-employed workers. While some leaders, including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, had suggested waiving contributions and having the government cover the cost. He apprehended that the above theory might work long. If the universalisation of social security brought the number of beneficiaries to 5 or 10 million, no government could bear the entire financial burden.
He argued that partial contributions were necessary to ensure workers’ ownership of the programme. For instance, he said that if informal-sector workers contributed even Rs2,000 a month, they would receive benefits of far greater value in return, including free schooling for children and comprehensive medical care for their entire families.
Ghani criticised past schemes in which free rickshaws or plots were given to workers, but the majority of them sold those at a cheap price, leaving the projects ineffective. He said similar failures would occur if social security benefits were provided entirely free.
The Labour Minister pointed out that large-scale corruption in housing schemes under the Workers Welfare Board had led to billions being wasted on just 10,000 flats in 50 years. Instead, he proposed, each retiring employee should be given a residential plot along with some financial support, allowing them to build and maintain their own homes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
