Mapping Labour Unions in Pakistan The PWF’s history could be traced back to the merger of labour federations of northern and southern parts of Pakistan in 1952. In its early years, PWF was led by Chaudhary Rehmat Ali. Later, it was led by veteran trade union leader Khursheed Ahmed from WAPDA and Zahoor Awan. Ideologically, the PWF supports democracy and dialogue. The PWF’s describes its primary agenda to work towards the social protection of all segments of workers and to protect the rights of informal workers. The PWF regards its status as being one of the oldest labour representative organisations, and its strong regional spread as its strength. The PWF outlines the financial crunch as its weakness. Workers across Pakistan are not convinced to financially contribute to the strengthening of trade unions, which makes it difficult for the federation to operate efficiently for labour rights. The PWF has strong relations with other labour representative organisations such as National Labour Federation, Pakistan Workers Confederation, Mutahida Labour Federation etc. Grouping: The Pakistan Workers Federation was formed in 2005 as a result of the merger of three leading national level federations, Pakistan Federation of Labour(APFOL), All Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions(APFTU) and Pakistan National Federation of Trade Unions(PNFTU). The Federation was in the making for 10 years before it was formalised in 2005 as a result of the Abbottabad Charter. Veteran trade unionist Khurshid Ahmed served as the chairperson for 17 years. Due to a dispute in the Federation, primarily on the subject of representation in the ILO Governing Body, the Federation was divided, with Zahoor Awan replacing him at the ILO forum. Khurshid Ahmed was previously employed with the WAPDA. The WAPDA union- with the largest membership base sided with his group. This group is now a part of the National Labour Council, which is endeavouring to form the largest confederation in Pakistan. 51