In connection with International Domestic Workers Day: 16 June 2024, WISE organized a public seminar involving a large number of women domestic workers, members and leaders of Women Domestic Workers Union-Punjab. The speakers included Deputy Secretary Labour Rao Zahid, Secretary Minimum Wage Board, Labour Department, Muhammad Shahid, Aima Mahmood, Member Governing Body PESSI, Ayyaz Ahmad Farooqi, Director C&B, PESSI, Bushra Khaliq, Executive Director WISE, Shahnaz Bibi, President Women Domestic Workers Union-Punjab, Zeba Ghafoor, member Punjab Assembly and Labor Leader Baba Latif Ansari.
The speakers informed participants about the proposed amendments to the Domestic Workers (DW) law under the Labor Code 2024. They discussed the reasons behind the slow pace of domestic workers’ registration with PESSI and the issuance of social security cards. The participants called for the implementation of the minimum wage notification, an increase in domestic workers’ wages in proportion to rising inflation, and the prompt framing of rules of business for the effective implementation of the domestic workers’ law in Punjab.