Guards Plight and LUMS Labour Policy

We, the faculty at LUMS, have recently been made aware of the fact that the security guard housing on campus is being demolished. While newer accommodation facilities are being constructed, there is no temporary housing made available. Tents have been pitched alongside the ganda nala outside LUMS. With soaring temperatures in the Lahore summer, tents are an unthinkable living option. This is further augmented by the imminent monsoon season, which will cause these tents to flood, drowning out possible living space. Furthermore, the area is unsafe as it is the nesting place of large snakes that pose as an extremely dangerous threat to safe living. The guards and their families have had to shift into tents exposing them to all sorts of possible diseases, which they are vulnerable to due to their proximity to the ganda nala.





We, the undersigned faculty at LUMS, are asking the administration to provide decent living arrangement to the security guards and their families as they wait for the construction of new housing. We propose that the security guards be relocated to the male dorms, which will be free during the summer vacations. We also ask for the speedy construction of the new housing facilities to cause minimum inconvenience. Lastly, we believe that LUMS should provide decent living and working environment for all of its service staff and employees. This means that all future construction and expansion plans should properly accommodate and provide temporary housing for any displaced staff members and their families.





We ask the administration at LUMS to initiate a deliberative process for arriving at a code of corporate social responsibility which accords basic labour protections in line with current international standards. As the leading Institution of Higher Education in Pakistan, it is incumbent upon LUMS to demonstrate better labour practices by stating policies on non-discrimination in the workplace, workplace safety, work hours and working times, amongst others. In addition, practices to circumvent the application of even the minimal legal employment standards guarantees must immediately be halted, including but not limited to the maintenance of the temporary worker designation for workers who in reality provide services of a permanent nature to LUMS. Firms that provide custodial and other services for LUMS must also abide by a code of conduct that incorporates standards of corporate social responsibility as a term for any continuing and future contract entered with LUMS.





Thank You,


Concerned Faculty at LUMS.