Sustained stronger enforcement needs to be paired with action by the courts to prosecute and sentence violators. The impact on U.S. exports of weak IPR protection in Pakistan is substantial, though difficult to quantify. Worker Rights a. In practice, labor laws place significant constraints on the formation of industrial unions and their ability to function effectively. However, the many restrictions on forming unions preclude collective bargaining by large sections of the labor force, e.g. agricultural workers, who are not guaranteed the right to strike, bargain collectively, or make demands on employers.
Strikes are rare and, when they occur, usually illegal and short.
The government regards as illegal any strike conducted by workers who are not members of a legally registered union. The law does not protect leaders of illegal strikes. However, illegal bonded labor is widespread. Bonded labor is common in the brick, glass, and fishing industries and is found among agricultural and construction workers in rural areas. Conservative estimates put the figure of bonded workers at several million.