COMPLIANCE OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND LABOUR LAWS IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY OF PAKISTAN: A SOCIO LEGAL STUDY
Keywords:
Child Labour, Dispute Resolution, Factories Act 1934, Industrial Relations Act 2012, Industrial Relations, Labour Law Compliance, Labour Market Segmentation, Occupational Health and Safety, Pakistan Textile Industry, Socio-Legal Analysis, Trade Unions, Tripartite Dialogue, Wage Regulation, Workers’ RightsAbstract
Pakistan’s textile sector is the backbone of the national economy as it contributes about 60% of total export earnings of the country and provides employment to over 15 million workers. This sector is of economic importance but is constantly in a state of non-compliance with the industrial relations regime and provisions of labour law. This paper presents a socio-legal study of the gap between statutory labour protections and their actual implementation in Pakistan’s textile manufacturing sector. The Industrial Relations Act 2012, Factories Act 1934, Minimum Wages Ordinance 1961 and Employment of Children Act 1991 are utilized in the study to show the interplay of power asymmetries, institutional inadequacies and socio-economic pressures that work together to subvert the rights of workers. The study finds significant failures in dispute resolution, trade union functions, occupational health and safety compliance and wage regulation. This paper uses a qualitative approach and is based on doctrinal legal analysis and socio-legal theory. The findings are contextualised within the Labour Market Segmentation Theory and Social Conflict Theory to explain the continued existence of non-compliance. The research finds that regulatory enforcement is uneven, sanctions are not sufficiently dissuasive and workers – especially women and migrant workers – remain structurally vulnerable. The paper ends with policy recommendations for legislative reform, strengthening labour inspection systems and promoting tripartite social dialogue as essential pathways to achieving sustainable labour compliance in Pakistan’s textile industry.
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