Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER)
PILER is a non-government organization dedicated to promoting
a democratic and effective labour movement for the overall advancement
of social justice and the attainment of an equitable society
where fundamental rights of people are respected, ensured and
guaranteed.
The main course of action at PILER includes the following:
- Initiate and strengthen mobilization and organizations of
workers (male/female) and communities around issues of labour
rights, broadly defined to include public services such as
education, health and shelter, that are basic to opportunities
for decent lives and livelihoods;
- Assist in training and education for effective and sustained
mobilization and organization of workers—both in the
formal and informal sector of economy;
- Provide people’s organizations and movements with
timely research and documentation;
- Engage in effective policy advocacy;
- Facilitate networking in national and regional coalitions
and alliances to create an expanded social and political space
for universal economic rights and regional peace.
Institutional History
PILER was founded on 1 May 1982 by a group of concerned individuals
from trade union movement, academia and varied professions.
The Institute started from a small rented office, with simple
organizational structure, informal work procedures and modest
funding from the United Workers’ Federation and donations
from well-wishers and friends. PILER was registered under the
Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control)
Ordinance 1961.
PILER’s research and education programme gradually expanded
and in 1988 PILER established a formally designed research and
training programme with regular workshops, courses and advocacy
activities through the funds availed from the Federatie Netherlandse
Vakbeweging (FNV), a Dutch confederation of trade unions sympathetic
to workers’ cause in South Asia. The Netherlands Organisation
for International Development Cooperation (NOVIB) came forward
to support PILER’s women and children workers ‘
programmes. The two other partner organizations that allied
with PILER’s cause and extended institutional and programme
support during the last two decades were the Freres des Hommes
(FdH), and the Stichting de Zaaier.
PILER opened its branch office in Lahore in 1992 to facilitate
access of its education, training and advocacy programmes to
the workers in the provinces of Punjab and NWFP. The year 2000
was a landmark in the organisation’s institutional history
as PILER shifted to its own custom-designed building constructed
on 2,385 square yards of land. Equipped with a hostel, conference
hall, library, board meeting room, common room and dinning hall,
the spacious office—designed by the PILER’s friend
and well-known architect-activist-urban planner Arif Hasan—was
built with the generous financial support from Stichting De
Zaaier, plus a fund pooled in by PILER’s international
partners, local philanthropists, friends and well-wishers.
In 2001, PILER expanded its activities further with financial
and technical support from the European Union (EU). By the end
of the year 2002, PILER had 50 plus staff, including programme
and support staff, undertaking education, training, mobilisation
and advocacy activities in the four provinces, with head office
in Karachi and branch office in Lahore.
PILER’s main institutional and programme support for
the year 2003-04 was extended by the FNV-NOVIB up to June this
year (2008) under the project “Promoting Social Justice:
Education, Research and Mobilization for Labour Rights”.
In 2002 PILER undertook a project, Empowering Vulnerable Workers
in Pakistan, funded by the European Union Consortium for a 3-year
period (2002-04), which was extended up to March 2006.
In March 2005, PILER revised its work plan to return to a much
stronger and original emphasis upon reflection in action by
the labour movement. The thrust of the Work Plan for 2005-2007
was to make a smooth transition through pre-defined strategies
towards a smaller and recast organisation as a resource centre
for the labour movement, offering direct and indirect support
(through education and policy advocacy on labour and related
issues).
Organizational Structure and Functioning
The overall policy is laid down by the 16-member Executive
Committee, elected every two years by the 70-plus-member General
Council, and meeting bi-annually. The Executive Committee oversees
tasks (management, finances, staffing and operations) through
the Managing Board. The specific structured activities related
to different programmes and projects are executed by teams of
staff members, each team led by a Manager/Project Coordinator.
So far PILER has successfully undergone the requisite structural
changes proposed by the Work Plan 2005-07. The core professional
staff consists largely of qualified researchers who produce
research materials and disseminate it through public advocacy
and teaching in PILER and at various other educational institutions.
PILER also runs an internship program, where fresh graduates
are hired against a reasonable stipend as interns, and are made
to undergo a rigorous three-month training period.
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