Muhammad Tajammal Aziz works for the Labour Education Foundation (LEF) in Lahore, Pakistan. Recently, he designed a course on Occupational Health and Safety, which is on OLA. He has been with LEF since August 2019 as a Project Coordinator focused on strengthening the rights of brick kiln workers to challenge bonded labour and in addition, as a paralegal to record violations of textile and garment industry workers, and coordinating their legal matters.

LEF WAS established in 1993 as a non-government organization. It was formed as an initiative of renowned trade union leaders, human rights and women rights activists to organise, capacitate and advocate for workers’ rights, and provide informed input to trade unions and various civil society organisations for promoting workers’ rights.

We spoke to Muhammad Tajammal Aziz about the course, the work that he does, and why he does it:

Why did you decide to join LEF?

Before joining LEF, I served in the Labour and Human Resource Department on a project about the  Elimination of Child and Bonded Labour. The project gestation period was 2015 to 2023 but due to some technical reasons the government of the Punjab decided to shut down the project in 2019. During that project I closely observed the issues of child and bonded labour families and how they are forced to live a miserable life. So, I decided to carry on my services with labour rights and I applied to LEF and after the due process I was lucky to be selected!

What is your background?

I come from a rural background in District Faisalabad, but then for higher studies I moved to Lahore where I am currently living with my family. I started my professional career at an NGO called Development Action for Mobilisation and Emancipation (DAMEN) as a junior professional; since then I have worked in various other capacities before joining LEF.

You recently designed a course on Occupational Health and Safety, which is on OLA. What made you decide to run this course?

Last year in coordination with IFWEA while using the Online Labour Academy (OLA) platform, I   facilitated the Smartphone Skills course, in which trade union leaders from Pakistan Brick Kiln Workers Union, Textile Powerloom Garment Workers Union and Homebased Women Workers Union joined the study circles. The feedback of study circle participants, encouragement from the Director of the Labour Education Foundation, and positive remarks from IFWEA course coordinator Melanie Julie , encouraged me to work more on online labour education.

Have you done something like this before?

I have designed training courses on workers’ social protection, bonded labour and occupational health and safety. But it’s my first ever experience to learn and design a course on an online platform! But with the facilitation of Melanie Julie, I successfully did this.

Who is taking the course?

The course is currently attending by LEF staff members those are involved in the capacity building of workers. According to the ILO statistics, every fifteen seconds a worker is reported dead on the job. Moreover, global warming leads to heat stress and more dangers for workers. Therefore, the Occupational Health and Safety course was designed on a priority basis to address the issues of workers.

And how is it going?

We are eight members involved in the study circles while using the OLA platform. The course is going well, and we have the opportunity to meet physically in the LEF office to discuss more about the course. We have formed a WhatsApp group of study circle members for mutual coordination and to discuss OSH related updates.

Have you had any feedback so far?

Yeah – this topic was new for some of the study circle members and their responses are quite positive regarding the course content. IFWEA also highlighted our zoom meetings on the IFWEA Facebook page. And the Director of LEF also encouraged the efforts to design and implement the course.

Would you like to design more courses – and if so, on what topics?

Of course, it would be an honour for me to further design courses on other topics such as minimum wage, just transition and social protection! These are the critical areas where workers, trade union leaders and human rights defenders need to learn more to improve labour rights situations and to strengthen the trade union movements in Pakistan.

Is there enough support for worker education from trade unions and other organisations who benefit from such education?

Here in Pakistan, according to the government statistics there are more than two percent of workers organised in trade unions, but the real situation is closer to less than one percent of workers. So, the trade unions have lack of technical and financial resources. LEF therefore equips trade union leaders and workers from different sectors with labour education and also supports them in legal cases. There is a focus on capacity building of workers, supporting trade union leaders on labour rights through study circles, capacity building training workshops, and making use of pamphlets, brochures, and monthly newsletters, etc.