Govt warned of possible uprising of labour class if workers’ exploitation continues

Being a Karachiite, Manan Bacha’s earliest memory of violence dates back to 1972 when he was just a student of the third grade. That year, on June 8, he saw a funeral procession at the Banaras Chowk being attacked by police with firearms, as a result of which a dozen people were killed.

The deceased were factory workers who were carrying the casket of their fellow worker who was shot dead a day ago by the police when they protested over non-payment of outstanding salaries and allowances.

These killings sparked a wave of protests and the workers’ movement at that time proved to be even stronger than Muttahida Qaumi Movement founder Altaf Hussain’s ‘iron fist’ as the industries in the city remained shut for two consecutive weeks and opened only after then federal minister Hayat Sherpao flew in from Peshawar and assured the workers of fulfilling their demands.

“The day was commemorated each year until the working class started dividing on ethnic lines and differentiating among the martyrs,” Bacha, who is now a labour rights activist and lawyer, said while speaking to The News.

“As per my understanding, those days were not as bad as these are. At least, the workers did not suffer from identity crisis back then. They were organised and committed to their collective well-being then.”

Karamat Ali, founding member of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Rights and Research, had in 2010 rebuilt the monument erected in memory of the slain workers at the Banaras Chowk. He said mobilisation of the workers movement was at its peak at that time because the Pakistan Peoples Party had come into power with the help of trade unions. The workers, according to Ali, had this impression that they had a labour-friendly government until that firing incident happened.

“Today, the rate of unionisation is two per cent. The 98 per cent workers are not associated with unions, if there are any at their workplaces. As a result of which, employers have laid off hundreds of thousands of workers during the COVID-19 lockdown so easily and you don’t see any mass agitation against this,” Ali said.

“Even the media industry is suffering from this. There has been sackings, underpayments or no payments at all. Some media workers have switched profession while others are struggling.”

He added that instead of protecting the interests of the workers, the federal and provincial governments had joined the trend and made the decision to sack over 9,000 employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) while also firing over 11,000 health workers.

“According to a World Bank report, 83 per cent of households in the country live on less than $2 per day. It is feared that in the coming days, some 20 million people will become jobless. What will they do then?” he questioned the governments, warning them of extremely challenging times ahead.

On March 19, 2020, police arrested three workers of a denim mill in Korangi under terrorism charges following their protest over non-payment of salaries and lay-offs. Nasir Mansoor, secretary general of the National Trade Union Federation that has taken up the lay-off cases before the Sindh High Court (SHC), said the farce was that firstly, the workers were shot by the police during the protest and later they were booked under charges of rioting, stealing money and causing injuries to security staffers.

“In the FIR lodged by the company, they have also accused nine to ten unknown people. Now, after Eid, the workers who are joining their duties are being harassed by the management to stay away from union activities or else they will be named in the slot of unknown people who rioted at the factory,” Mansoor said, adding that the employers thought of workers as tissue papers which can be discarded at any moment without any explanation or remuneration.

He added that in the last couple of months, some two million people had been rendered jobless in Karachi only. Shedding light on the workers movement of 60s and 70s, he said Karachi used to be the hub of trade union activities because industries were concentrated here, especially the textile-garment sector, but the subsequent derailing of democratic process and political engineering forced the society into ethnic and religious division.

Mansoor criticised the Sindh government for coming up with excellent theories of public welfare but negating all of them in its actions. Referring to the protest of PSM workers, he said the government sent law enforcement agencies to arrest the union leaders who were leading the demonstration, despite its claims that it supported workers in their stance against privatisation of the PSM.

He also shared an incident in which the government had transferred an assistant commissioner of SITE because he took action against a mill for not paying salaries to its staffers.

He added that although a large number of workers were unorganized, the evolving circumstances were building a perfect environment for them to realise their continuous exploitation at the hands of the governments and employers.

“They did not have water and electricity in their homes and now the ration has also run out. The market does not offer them any job. Their aggression against the system is rising. The governments should set their priorities right before it’s too late for them.”