KARACHI: Political parties, civil society and government organisations as well as trade unions organised several events including rallies, seminars and talks across Sindh on Monday to mark Labour Day.

The programme were held in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Sanghar, Sakkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Larkana and Dadu and almost every small city and towns of the province.

In Karachi, the Awami Workers Party (AWP), Pakistan Trade Union Federation, Karachi Bachao Tehreek, Women Democratic Front and Progressive Students Federation commemorated Labour Day by a demonstration and peoples’ assembly at the Pakistan Trade Union Federation office in Khamosh Colony, Nazimabad.

Shahid Mahboob from K-Electric demanded that the salaries of the power company workers, which have not been raised since 2011, should be increased as per the rate of inflation today.

Call to allocate 15 seats for labourers in Senate

Nisar Ahmed, a labourer and Gujjar Nullah demolition victim, said that no alternative land or compensatory cheques had been provided despite the Supreme Court’s orders.

Representing the Orangi Nullah demolition victims, Murad Hashim urged the state to fulfil its promise of rehabilitating the affected people as ordered by the apex court.

Karishma Iqbal of the Women Democratic Front said that women and their issues had by and large been ignored by the state and society. She said women were labourers, too, but there was no recognition of their work.

Manzoor Razi, chairman of the Railway Workers Union, lambasted the mainstream political leaders by saying that the provincial and national assemblies of the country comprised feudal lords and capitalists. “At least 15 seats in the Senate should be given to labourers. The minimum wage should at least be Rs50,000. Every citizen should have protection of livelihoods, homes, and basic necessities should be provided to everyone,” said the veteran labour leader.

Tauqeer Chughtai from the AWP recited a poem on the dismal conditions of labourers in factories and other workplaces.

Ahmed Shabbar from the Pakistan Maholiyati Front said that people were evicted in the name of environmentalism all over Karachi, Sindh and Islamabad. He cautioned the labourers against the deliberate plot of excessive development work in the name of environmentalism.

Khurram Nayyer, convener of the Karachi Bachao Tehreek (KBT) and general secretary of the AWP-Karachi, said that only workers’ power could challenge that exploitative state.

Shafi Sheikh, president of the AWP-Karachi, said that no one could guard the interests of labourers other than themselves because no one else shared their sufferings. He urged the labourers to come together for themselves.

Joint rally

A large number of workers participated in a rally jointly staged by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) from the Regal Chowk to the Karachi Press Club.

Led by HBWWF general secretary Zehra Khan and NTUF leader Gul Rehman, the rally participants were chanting revolutionary slogans, carrying banners, portraits of Chicago martyrs and red flags.

Nasir Mansoor of the NTUF said workers in Pakistan completely rejected the current economic and political policies of the rulers and condemned their apathy towards the issues of working classes. “We have been facing high price hikes, especially food inflation, political uncertainty and lawlessness. The ruling elite has amassed huge wealth within and outside the country, but the common man is deprived of all basic facilities of life,” he said.

Talking about the worsening economic crisis here, Zehra Khan said that instead of improving the economy, the rulers were happy with becoming slaves of international lenders, especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose deadly debt trap had virtually defaulted the country.

She regretted that despite the passage of 10 years after the Baldia Factory fire incident, no solid steps had been taken for the health and safety of workers at their workplaces. “The situation is just worrisome in the textile and garment sector. The factories making goods for the international fashion brands are openly violating labour rights,” she said.

“In order to get rid of the current economic and political crisis, price hike, food inflation, poverty and joblessness, it is necessary that workers forge unity above the discrimination of colour, cast and creed, and struggle for their rights in an organised manner,” she further added.

The rally participants demanded that the minimum wage should be fixed at Rs50,000 per month.

PPP organises labour conference

The Sindh labour department organised a conference at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.

Addressing the event, Labour Minister Saeed Ghani, who is also the Karachi chapter president of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said his party and the government fully believed in the struggle for the welfare and well-being of workers.

Senator Waqar Mehdi, the PPP general secretary of the Sindh chapter, and labour leader Habib Junaidi also addressed the conference.

They highlighted the areas which required the attention of government and all rights’ activists for the larger good of the country’s labour class.

JI rally

The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) took out a rally in Ibrahim Haidri near Coast Guard Chowrangi to observe Labour Day.

Addressing the rally participants, city JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman paid tributes to fishermen and other workers across the country for their sacrifices and hard work despite exploitation by the government and other organisations.

MWM meeting

Speaking at a meeting of the party’s labour wing, Allama Sadiq Jaffari of the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) paid tributes to the labourers of the country and assured them his party’s support in their struggle for their due rights.

Other parts of Sindh

While rallies in major cities and towns were organised by the All Pakistan Wapda Hydroelectric Union (CBA), National Labour Federation (NLF), All Pakistan Clerks Association and labour wings of Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamaat-i-Islami, and Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party, different labour and social welfare organisations, unions of corporations, semi-government and private institutions also took out rallies and held seminars.

Labour leaders speaking at the events observed that people of Pakistan were faced with an unprecedented inflation and rupee devaluation which had put the very survival of salaried class as well as low- and middle-income groups at stake.

The most common demands strongly recommended by the leaders were fixing of minimum wage at Rs50,000, increase in pension by 100pc, introduction of an industry-friendly policy to create job opportunities and withdrawal of all recent hikes in water, power and gas tariffs as well as prices of petroleum products.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2023