Domestic Defiance: On Pakistan’s First Trade Union Federation for Home-Based Workers

A conversation with Zehra Khan on the founding of Pakistan’s first trade union for home-based women workers.

In 2005, Zehra Khan, then a graduate student at the University of Karachi, began a research project with a fellow student on home-based workers in Pakistan’s textile and garments industry. They discovered that most of these workers were women, who contributed significantly to the country’s economy as well as to the local and global textile and garments supply chains. Yet they were underpaid and without any legal rights because the country’s laws did not recognize them as workers. “All these women,” Khan told me, “were skilled workers, but they had no money or support so they were in a vulnerable position.” Khan would go on to form the Home-Based Women Workers’ Federation (HBWWF), where she continues to serve as general secretary.

The Beginning

At the time, Khan and her classmate were also studying communist literature from the Soviet Union. They became radicalized and believed that people needed to be organized into student and labour unions to fight for their rights and, ultimately, for revolution. They decided to organize the home-based workers. Every weekend, they would go to visit these women at their houses and discuss their conditions:

Initially, these women did not think they were being exploited. They sympathized with their contractor for he brought them work which enabled them to earn some money to contribute to household expenses. We told them that they were not just working for an individual contractor, but that they were part of a multi-billion dollar textile and garments supply chain which thrived on their cheap and flexible labour. It took a lot of time to make them understand this.

*Members of the HBWWF. Image:* *Mamacash*

In the beginning, Khan and her colleague would go door to door to meet these women but later they started holding collective meetings. Because of limited resources, their organizing was restricted to areas of Karachi where the concentration of home-based workers was significant. Obstacles to organizing soon started to appear:

We noticed that some of [the women] had stopped coming [to our meetings]. We asked them the reason. They told us that their family members had advised them to stay away from us because we were bad women and, in the future, we would ‘sell them ahead’ [benefit from their misery]…We took this seriously and changed our communication strategy to align with the context of the society we were working in. All we wanted to do is to organize these women so that they could stand up on their own feet. We had no other ulterior motives.

To not lose these women, Khan and her colleagues sought to recraft their revolutionary ideas to make them speak to the conditions of their audience. This demanded that they understand more intimately the people and society they were organizing in. Home-based workers, they discovered, were not only facing labour exploitation. Patriarchal norms and poor access to basic utilities like water and electricity also took a toll on the women. For example, to obtain water, they had to go to the public well, where they sometimes had to wait for hours for their turn. If electricity was not available at their homes (due to routine load-shedding), they could not complete their production tasks. Moreover, they were responsible for household chores.

“To not lose these women, Khan and her colleagues sought to recraft their revolutionary ideas to make them speak to the conditions of their audience. This demanded that they understand more intimately the people and society they were organizing in.”

Khan and her colleagues began discussing these issues in their organizing as well. “We connected their labour conditions to a wider range of civic and other issues to motivate them to join the struggle. This is how some women became engaged in the beginning,” she explained. The strategy was a success. They organized a larger team and began holding study circles, where one of the most pressing issues the women wanted to discuss was gendered norms and patriarchy. The next important point of discussion was labour law – what is it, who is entitled to labour protections, and why aren’t home-based workers recognized under it?

First Convention

As they grew in numbers, the group started applying a similar strategy to organize home-based workers in the glass bangles industry. Their organizing was relatively easier here because the hierarchies of buyers, suppliers and workers were clearly visible, unlike the textile and garments industry (with its layers of contractors). In 2009, home-based workers across the textile and bangles industries planned to hold their first convention in Hyderabad, Sindh.

During the campaigning for the convention, some contractors tried to intimidate women workers on the pretext that their struggle will beget high electricity and gas costs, and their landlords will kick them out of their houses. But Khan recalled the defiance of some women: “There were some bold women who wanted to cross the line to see what it’s like on the other end. They believed there was nothing wrong in what they were asking for – it was their right. And that’s why they wanted to be part of this struggle.”

The convention went ahead as planned, with the home-based workers even inviting a representative from the Sindh Department of Labour. The representative was pleased to see women workers assembled in such numbers for their rights. He asked them to visit his office to discuss their regularization. Khan said that the representative was so inspired that he pledged to do his best to help the home-based workers achieve their objective, even if this hurt his job:

The next day, when we met him, he told us that many people had warned him against coming to our event. But he wanted to see what we were doing. That became a turning point for our struggle. In 2009, we made the first union in Hyderabad’s bangle industry. This helped us elevate our struggle from just a gender issue to a class issue. We engaged with the labour department in negotiations over a law to regularize these workers because we believed that, without institutional changes, there would be no change.

*Zehra Khan speaks at a demonstration of home-based workers. Image:* *Left Unity*

Khan recalls that, initially, their organizing was not very clear about what they wanted to do so they started asking people for suggestions. Some told them to make an association, while others recommended creating an NGO. Khan and her co-organizers also had the example of Faisalabad’s power loom workers to draw on. Like home-based workers, power loom workers did not fall under the legal definition of a worker. But they organized, and utilized their strength to engage in informal collective bargaining. “Within two months, we realized this model was not going to work for us,” Khan said. What they wanted was not possible without legislation and for that they had to take a constitutional approach. Khan described that they were making every move consciously:

We turned this home-based workers issue into a movement as well as a class issue. We were successful in creating this awareness. The second achievement was organizing these workers in the form of unions. We also engaged women in Quetta and the Hub area of Balochistan, who did hand embroidery for local market vendors. We basically targeted those industries where the employers, the workers and the markets were clearly visible.

The Making of the Home-Based Women Workers’ Federation (HBWWF)

In the absence of specific labour laws that could legally protect them, home-based workers used Article 17 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which enshrines the right of the freedom of association, to register a labour union. The official of the labour department helped them navigate the system by telling them which route they could take within the ambit of the law. According to Pakistan’s laws, two or more unions can form a federation. Having a union of glass bangle workers in Sindh and a union of embroidery workers in Balochistan, Khan and other women organizers registered for a federation with the National Industrial Relations Commission. This is how the HBWWF came into existence. After becoming a federation, the home-based workers took their struggle for social security and pension to the bureaucracy and legislature, because now they were in a better bargaining position and almost covered by the law.

As Khan recounted:

After this, we started conducting training for our members so that they could at least calculate what their wages should be. Home-based workers are predominantly paid on a piece rate basis. Moreover, the rates differ in different areas. This means that they don’t have a steady income as their work depends on how many pieces they produce. And their production depends on the availability of basic utilities such as power and water. That is why we thought it was important to engage with the communities on the issues they were facing.

“Around 100 home-based workers took part in the [2006/2007] lawyers’ movement against the then military ruler of the country, General Pervez Musharraf. Some were beaten by police and one of them went to jail.”

Since the home-based women workers were organized, they could raise their voice on civic issues like power and water supplies. The federation created an intersection of labour and civic issues at the grassroot level and, due to its strength, even pushed authorities into action. The federation was able to obtain a raise in piece rates across all areas. Home-based workers also entered wider politics. “We were not limited to civic and labour issues only,” Khan recalled, “but also participated in the mainstream social and political struggle. Around 100 home-based workers took part in the [2006/2007] lawyers’ movement against the then military ruler of the country, General Pervez Musharraf. Some were beaten by police and one of them went to jail.”

Major Achievements

Khan considers the promulgation of the Sindh Home Based Workers Act as their biggest achievement so far. This law provided firm legal recognition to home-based workers. It took years of negotiation to enact this law because the government was reluctant to agree to certain demands, including providing seed money for the home-based workers’ fund. To overcome this hurdle, the federation compromised on some of their demands and, in 2018, this law was finally enacted. However, its implementation is still distant.

Two years later, the Sindh government also notified the home-based workers that they were entitled to the minimum wage. However, considering the nature of their work, what their minimum wage should be is a question that still needs answers. Khan, who is also a member of the Sindh Minimum Wage Board, said that, from the labour side, they had submitted a proposal to calculate and set the minimum wage for the home-based workers. However, both the employers and the government have yet to respond and are deliberately stalling.

“The HBWWF is also part of a transnational global labour struggle, having become a member of IndustriALL Global Union, a global union federation, and Homenet International, a global network of home-based workers.”

The HBWWF is also part of a transnational global labour struggle, having become a member of IndustriALL Global Union, a global union federation, and Homenet International, a global network of home-based workers. Through case studies and research, they have contributed to the Pakistan Accord, a legally binding agreement spanning factory safety and improved working conditions for fashion’s supply chain. Khan and her co-organizers have also made progress in securing social security benefits for home-based workers:

We are negotiating a governing structure which is 50% from workers’ side and 50% from garment suppliers and brands. The discussion is ongoing. We have worked extensively on a universalized social security scheme. We proposed an amendment in the law to make social security universal for all workers, regardless of their status. Now every worker, no matter if their employer is visible or not, will be able to register with the social security institution in Sindh. But in the absence of an employer, the worker will have to pay their contribution themselves. In the case of a known employer, the contribution will be paid by them. It is 6% of the salary.

However, we are in talks with the government to reduce the contribution to 3% for home-based workers contributing themselves, until their employer is visible and can start contributing instead. We are talking to the labour minister to find a way to resolve this problem for home-based workers. We are also asking for seed money or funds from the government to run this system. All our members are in the tripartite mechanism at different levels. Our role in the decision-making process has been established. With the help of an economist, we have created a draft bill to bring all social security institutions under one umbrella to make it easier for the workers.

Wage Discrimination Against Women

Wage discrimination based on gender is rampant in the textile and garments industry. This is not just limited to home-based work but extends to factory work. Women are mostly engaged in packaging and cropping work in factories. They are often paid less than their male counterparts. Moreover, they are mostly piece rate or daily wage workers, while male workers are more likely to be salaried employees. However, regardless of gender, most factory and home-based workers lack employment contracts and are usually hired by third parties. Because their employment then remains undocumented, it is overlooked in economic policies.

This invisibilization has also gendered consequences. For instance, many cases of sexual harassment and violence against women go unnoticed and those which do get reported are deliberately neglected. This makes women workers even more vulnerable to mental and physical violence. Their supervisors often mentally torture them for not meeting the production targets or going slower than expected. In a predominantly patriarchal society, they are also unable to seek help from other people due to various social and structural factors. Khan elaborated:

I have heard myself the kind of language they [managers and supervisors] use in factories against [women] workers. The kind that would make you instantly angry. Recently, there was an issue at a factory. I went there to meet the women workers and found managers openly using expletives against all of them. They called us whores and some other words I can’t even explain. And this was not coming from men only: the management’s women employees were also abusive. The complaint mechanism is practically non-existent, and most people never reach the labour department, minding the bureaucratic struggle that it will open. Let’s say that a factory is a jail. Or the whole informal sector is a jail where the exploitation of workers continues to happen.

Occupational Safety and Health

Occupational safety and health was a key issue for workers in Pakistan even before the Rana Plaza incident. In 2012 alone, fires at the Ali Enterprises garments factory in Karachi and a shoe factory in Lahore killed 260 and 25 workers respectively. In demonstrations and press conferences, union organizers demanded that workplaces be made safer. This was a year before the Rana Plaza incident which then drew the world’s attention towards factory workers.

HBWWF played a crucial role in the struggle for justice for the Ali Enterprises victims. After the fire was put down, Khan and her colleagues went through the debris and found some labels which identified the buyer of the merchandise produced in the factory. They also conducted a survey of 101 workers and helped them complete their documentation to obtain compensation and supported their campaigning. They helped the victims set up their own association and take the lead in their own struggle. They also helped them establish contact with international labour and human rights organizations to take their struggle to a global stage. With help from local and international union organizers and supporters, the workers of Ali Enterprises filed a case against the German brand KiK for neglecting the workers safety. In 2018, the Sindh government declared that September 11 will be commemorated as Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Day in remembrance of Ali Enterprises victims. “But this was for one time only…Because no such program took place later,” Khan lamented.

After these factory fires, the HBWWF started to prioritize occupational health and safety issues:

We were successful in obtaining a law, the Sindh Occupational Safety and Health Act. However, its rules are still not completely defined. The law also sanctioned an OSH council, but in the past five years, this council has had only three meetings. Also, the officers posted in this institution have no basic training or tools to conduct their operation. Factory fires are still happening, and we have been raising questions why, despite having laws and a body in place to ensure workers’ safety, this thing has not stopped. There is corruption which allows these things to happen.

Now, we hope that the Pakistan Accord will be able to help us achieve this goal of workers’ safety at their workplaces. They won't get fired or face reprisal for complaining. However, the business community is wary of this accord. Perhaps they don’t understand it completely. I am also a member of the Sindh Minimum Wage Board. One of the employers who is also part of the committee has expressed concerns about the Pakistan Accord. He was of the view that these things will bring more responsibilities to them. But not all employers are taking it negatively. Many accept it but hold different views. Some realize that [the Accord] is also good for employers. It will secure their business. It will provide job security as well as a secure business environment.

Revolution is Not Easy

Despite all their successes, the HBWWF has a long road of struggle ahead. Khan said that, since the economic situation of the country has worsened, wherever they go to talk to people about their working conditions, people instead ask them for a ration. “People are not concerned any more about ideology,” she said, “they care about finding food.” Many of the laws the HBWWF fought to enact have also not been fully implemented:

Laws were passed but the benefits have not been reaching workers yet,” she said. “We had 4,000 women workers in our struggle. Sometimes, [the failure to see the results of struggle] causes depression. We created software for the labour department to register home-based workers, streamlined everything, helped them collect data of 7,000 home-based workers. But the labour department is reluctant to verify these workers. They are stalling. Government officials expect us to give money.

*October 2021: HBWWF protest in Karachi to demand that the Sindh government implement laws passed to protect home-based workers. Image:* *Express Tribune*

“speaking for the revolution is one thing and working towards it is another.”

But, despite all these setbacks, Khan and the HBWWF remains committed to revolutionary politics:

I started reading about the Soviet Union during my days at Karachi University. It was inspiring for me that people stood up for their rights and then ruled for 70 years. During this time, they created progressive laws, decriminalized abortion, solved the issue of illegitimate children, enacted labour laws for decent employment and fair wages, and created social security institutions for the welfare of workers. If workers or people stand up for something without any division, if they struggle collectively, they can achieve great things. Collectivism was visible there. These days individualism is rampant. That’s why we go towards the union to instill the sense of collectivism and we raise our voices on every issue, like missing persons [enforced disappearances] and others. However, speaking for the revolution is one thing and working towards it is another. And it’s not an easy one as we are still very far from it.

Zubair Ashraf is a journalist specializing in labour policies and globalization. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in digital narratives at the Internationale Filmschule Koeln.