The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (PILER) was founded on 1 May 1982 by a group of concerned individuals from the trade union movement, academia and various other professions. PILER is registered as a ‘not for profit’ company under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance. Earlier it was registered under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance 1961.
In 1988, PILER established a formally designed research and training programme with regular workshops, courses and advocacy activities. PILER opened its branch office in Lahore in 1992 to make its education, training and advocacy programmes accessible to workers in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The year 2000 was a landmark in the organisation’s institutional history as PILER shifted from a small rented office to its own custom-designed building constructed on 2,385 square yards of land. Equipped with a hostel, conference hall, library, board meeting room, common room and dining hall, the spacious office—designed by the PILER’s friend and well-known architect-activist-urban planner Arif Hasan—was built with the generous financial support from Stichting De Zaaier as well as contributions from PILER’s international partners, local philanthropists, friends and well-wishers.