Workers demand workplace safety, job security amid COVID-19 threat

Participants of a protest marking International Labour Day on Friday demanded of the government to ensure its social distancing SOPs were strictly implemented at factories and workplaces to save the lives of workers.

The National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) jointly arranged the protest. A large number of workers and leaders of different workers’ unions, federations and civil society participated while maintaining social distancing. They carried red flags and banners and raised slogans for labour rights.

NTUF central leader Nasir Mansoor said they were celebrating the 134th International Labor Day in such circumstances when the coronavirus had become a huge global challenge and already devastated the working class.

“Both developed and developing countries have failed to contain this virus. The outdated healthcare system at global level has fallen on its knees. Millions of lives are facing the threat of death due to the faulty policies of rulers,” he said.

“The virus has created a grave threat for mankind in the whole world, and even if the people succeed in fighting this disease, a grave economic crisis will greet them,” he said.

Karamat Ali of the National Labour Council said the Pakistani government, due to its lack of ability, had put the lives of 220 million people in uncertainty.

Though the healthcare experts had already warned that the virus could take a huge toll on life, the government steps to improve the healthcare sector were shamefully insufficient, he said, adding that doctors were fighting the virus even without any facilities, while the state had already surrendered and was playing the role of a spectator.

"It is shying away from saving the lives of people. It has failed to provide people food and cash assistance. It has betrayed the workers who are being rendered jobless and also denied their wages,” said Ali, who also heads the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research.

He said Pakistani industrialists, despite getting huge packages from the government, had so far sacked more than six million workers, and as per an estimate, this number might climb to 12 million.

Zehra Khan of the HBWWF said 200 million workers had already been rendered jobless the world over, and more than one billion other workers, about 38 per cent of the total global labour force, were facing pay cuts or joblessness. Due to lockdowns, more than 2.70 billion workers, or 81 per cent of the global workforce, were facing cuts in their real wages, Khan said.

Habibuddin Junaidi of the People’s Labour Bureau said the government had allowed many industries to run under standard operating procedures (SOPs), but the ground realities showed that these SOPs would not be followed by the majority of industries and the lives of millions of workers would be put on stake.

Other speakers demanded that the forced sacking of labourers during the lockdown should be stopped and all workers, including home-based workers, should be given their wages.

The industrialists should be compelled to follow the government instructions to save the lives of workers, and the country should go for default on all foreign loans, and the money thus saved should be spent on the welfare of the people, they said, further suggesting that all citizens should be registered with social security institutions, the budget of health and education should be made equal to the budget of defence, and all anti-environment projects should be halted.

The speakers included Gul Rahman of the NTUF, Saeed Baloch from the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Sajjad Zahir of the Progressive Writer Association, Saeeda Khatoon of the Baldia Factory Fire Association), Shakil Kanga from the Jang Union, Faheem Siddiqui from the Karachi Union of Journalists), Saira Feroz of the United HB Garment Workers Union, Khaliq Zardagan of the Lyari Awami Mahaz, Khizar Qazi of Ujala TV, Dr Raiz Sheikh from ZABIST, and Zubair Ur Rahman, a columnist.