Vulnerable workers of Rawalpindi

Many workers sit on pavements across the city while waiting amidst tens of workers for their turn to get work. “If I come and sit here, there is a chance of me finding a job for the day and there is also a certainty that I will find food for me and my wife,” says Akbar Hussain sitting on Gulzar-e-Quaid pavement.

“I am a native of Karachi; I was working in a teashop until COVID-19. After the closure of teashop during the pandemic, my wife and I found it difficult to make ends meet. The first wave of COVID-19 made us homeless. We could not afford the rent and so our house owner forced us out of the house. Our children also abandoned us. We had nowhere to go. So, we boarded a train and came to Rawalpindi in search of a job,” says Moujiz Abbas.

“Many people like Akbar and Moujiz who are mostly homeless and street dwellers, start gathering at the nearest pavement from their homes as early as 9.30 am. Most of these pavements are located near commercial markets. By around 10 am, a few non-governmental organizations that provide free breakfast to the workers start distributing food,” says Musawir Ali.

“People who hire them on behalf of the contractors for jobs ranging from laying roads, cleaning septic tanks, cleaning sewage lines, painting buildings, catering services, construction works, and driving four-wheelers, arrive there. There is no set time for them; they come anytime between 9:30 am and 12.30 pm. As they scan through the workers standing in a line, they look out for potential workers,” says Altaf Hussain.

“They will announce the work and ask who is qualified for the work. Certain work requires skilled workers. Other works only require physical strength. They will pick the workers accordingly and tell them the fixed wage for the day. There is no paperwork for this. For the contractors, these pavements are a key labor market where they handpick the workers they need, most times for less than minimum wage. At the end of the day, the workers will be paid in cash,” adds Altaf.

“Some of the workers know the people who hire them on behalf of the contractors who show up regularly. If we make ourselves familiar with such people, it is easy to get jobs,” says Mubarak Ali. Zakir Hussain says, “When I asked another worker Naveed, why he prefers to come here to find work for the day rather than a job that provides fixed wages, he says, “I am already finding it hard to make ends meet on a day-to-day basis, how I will be able to survive on a monthly salary? Now, I earn one day and survive with it for the next few days until I find the job again.”