Participants of a Labour Day rally held in Karachi on Wednesday said that the policies of the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are anti-worker to their core, demanding that the workers be given a living wage instead of the minimum wage.
On the 138th anniversary of Labour Day, the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) held a joint Mehnatkash Rally that marched from the Regal Chowk to the Karachi Press Club (KPC).
Many workers, including women, transgender persons and children, carrying red flags and banners attended the rally that was led by HBWWF leader Zehra Khan and NTUF leader Gul Rehman. To express solidarity with Palestinians, they also waved Palestine’s flags, and announced their support for the protesting students at US universities.
Addressing the rally, NTUF General Secretary Nasir Mansoor said that the basic motive of the May 1 movement was to get determined working hours, raise in wages and the realisation of the right of making labour unions.
Mansoor said that though 138 years have passed since this great resistance movement, billions of workers in the world are still struggling for their basic rights.
He said that the working class has always taken an active part in movements against military governments, but the so-called democratic governments have always failed to give them their legal due rights.
Less than one per cent of the 85-million-strong workforce in Pakistan today is availing the right of making trade unions, while in the private sector the ratio of trade unions is non-existent, he added.
He also said that 62 per cent of the country’s labour force belongs to the services and industrial sector, producing 84 per cent of the total national production worth $285 billion.
“Of these workers, 95 per cent don’t have even their appointment letters. Further, 90 per cent of them have to work 12 to 16 hours a day,” he lamented.
“Despite the order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, illegal contract system fully works in our country. There are no facilities of social security and pension for these workers.”
Labour leader Rafique Baloch pointed out that the policies of global lenders, especially the IMF, have made the lives of the masses a living hell.
“They face price hikes, inflation, joblessness and diseases,” said Baloch, adding that electricity, gas, water, medicines and eatables have gone beyond the reach of the masses. “Healthcare, education and services are commercialised. The assets of the state-owned entities are being sold for peanuts in the name of privatisation.”
He said that 95 million people are living below the poverty line in the country, while every government is bent upon implementing the IMF-dictated policies that are anti-people and anti-worker in essence.
The HBWWF’s Zehra Khan expressed solidarity with the protesting US students, and termed their movement a new decisive development of the international movement in support of the people of Palestine. She said the workers of Pakistan stand shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed people of Palestine.
She also said that in Pakistan, wages are too low when compared with inflation. She demanded that instead of the minimum wage, workers should be paid a living wage. She pointed out that instead of giving protection to workers, the government is bent upon rendering them jobless in the name of privatisation. She explained that 178 entities have been privatised for $6 billion, and majority of them are closed now.
She remarked that no one knows where the money is that was obtained from their privatisation. She said that an organised struggle of the working class is the need of the hour.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Vice Chairman Qazi Khizr said that labour rights are also human rights. He said the person who does not support labour rights cannot be termed a human rights worker.
Khizr said workers in Pakistan are the most oppressed people in the country. He stressed the need for unity among the workers to wage a decisive struggle for their rights.
Youth organisation Alternate’s Aqib Hussain said that young people make up the majority of workers, and that they are denied their fundamental constitutional and labour rights.
“They are forced to work in factories in an atmosphere of fear. If workers raise their voice for their rights, they are fired from their jobs and are not even paid their legal dues. The need of the hour is for the youth to learn about their rights.”
The rally demanded that the minimum wage be fixed at Rs50,000 per month; instead of the minimum wage, workers be paid a living wage; all workers, including home-based workers, be registered with social security institutions; workplaces be made free from harassment; and labour laws be implemented in factories and workplaces.
They also demanded that wages be paid through bank accounts; the right to form trade unions be given to workers; the contract labour system be banned, making it a crime; every citizen be given healthcare, education and housing facilities; and a proper public transport system be established.
They further demanded that the privatisation process be stopped, all non-productive expenses be slashed by half, agricultural reforms be introduced in the country, all idle lands be distributed among Hari families for free, workers be given the right to form trade unions and CBAs, and all workers be given appointment letters.
Their other demands included ending forced disappearances, recovering missing persons, stopping all anti-environment projects, taking action to combat the dangers of climate change, sharing the secret agreement the ILO made with the insurance company without consulting the victims’ representatives, and restoring state subsidies on food, medicine and transport.
Others who spoke on the occasion included the NTUF’s Riaz Abbasi and Gul Rehman, the HBWWF’s Anny Yaqoob and Perveen Bano, the United HB Garments Workers Union’s Saira Feroze and Ruqia Muhammad Hanif, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum’s Saeed Baloch and Fatima Majeed, Alternate’s Bilawal, the National Awami Party’s Ramzan Memon and Shahina Ramzan, the Ali Enterprises Factory Fire Affectees Association’s Muhammad Siddique and Hasina Khatoon, the Textile General Workers Union’s Iqbal Abro and Himat Phulpoto, Dr Asghar Ali Dashti, Khaliq Zadran, Wahid Baloch, Bakht Zameen, Israr Sawati and Azam Kakar.