The Labour Day was marked with rallies, seminars, conferences and other events to highlighting the significance of the day and pay tributes to those labourers who laid down their lives in 1886 in Chicago for the rights of workers.
In Multan, People's Unity of PIA, MDA, WASA, MEPCO,Railway, People's Labour Bureau ,Civil Defence, Paramedics Union ,Pakistan National Textile & Leather garments workers Federation took out rallies near Multan Press Club.
On the occasion, union leaders including Asad Mehmood Bukhari, Ashfaq Ahmed Khan, Malik Bashir Ahmed, Ghazi Ahmed Hassan Khokhar, Dilawar Abbas Siddiqui, Kaswar Razi, Rana Abdul Hafeez, Malik Ashiq Bhutta, M.Ikram Alvi,Mehr Imtiaz Khaira, and Mrs. Fareeda Zaheer Taj paid tribute to the determination of the countless efforts of labourers who play vital role in the progress of the county.
Pakistan Saraiki Party, Pakistan Mazdoor Kisan Mazdoor Party,PML-N, PML-Q, PML-F, PPP ,Awami Raj Party,etc also organised rallies ,seminars and meetings. Above 60 million labour force of the country is denied its fundamental rights in public and private sector, including non implementation of the payment of the minimum wage announced by the government, said a Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP) report.
The recently released report disclosed that the implementation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UN conventions and covenants relating to labour standards and human rights are an ongoing problem in the country. The HRCP report said that the minimum wage for unskilled workers announced by the federal and provincial governments were never implemented for majority of employees as most industries and commercial establishments were still reluctant to pay even that wage. For the fiscal year 2017-18 this rate has been fixed as Rs 15000 per month, only Rs1000 above the last fiscal year. Meanwhile, no increase has been made for the monetary year 2018-19 declaring it the provincial subject. The report recommended that all provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory should organize their respective tripartite labour consultation before passing labour legislation as required under ILO Convention 144.
It further said that the calculation of living wage should be based on research of cost of living and price hikes. And that Pakistan should urgently ratify ILO Convention on Home-based workers and subsequently enact or revise federal and provincial policies and laws accordingly. According to the report Labour Force Survey provides the official data about Pakistan’s existing labour force and the last report was released in 2014-15 and according to the survey’s estimate Pakistan’s labour force is 61.04million.
Moreover, according to the Labour Force Survey data, out of 61.4million, 22% were women and 67.8 percent were male workers. The majority of workforce, 42.3 percent was employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing. This was followed by industrial manufacturing sector which employed 15.3 percent, then construction whole sale, retail transport and community service sectors. The report said that Pakistan’s workers are mostly unorganized and trade unions memberships have drastically reduced over the years. According to estimates currently only one or three percent of labour is organized under trade unions in the country. Mostly trade unions are in public sector unions while in private sector either do not exist or are pocket unions formed by the employers to meet international export requirements. In both government and private sectors, employees continued to struggle for their rights.
Home-based Workers
An ILO report published in 2017 Pakistan’s Hidden Workers: Wage and Conditions of home-based workers and the informal economy, highlighted the vulnerability of home based workers. Majority of them are women and they lack protections and access to collective bargaining. The wage rate is generally set by middlemen and they are chronically and significantly underpaid. It is estimated that there are 5 million home-based workers and they are deprived of all legal benefits available under the labour laws.
Mine Workers
Mines are located in all four provinces as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The coal mines in Baluchistan and Sindh are very difficult workplaces where thousands of workers are engaged in mining without occupational safety and health conditions. The record indicates that over 220 workers had lost their lives in fatal mining accidents during the period 2010-16.
Farm Workers
Tenants of the Okara farms continued their struggle for ownership rights. The repression of the administration continued against leaders of Anjuman Mazareen, many of whom are still languishing in jails and are facing different cases.
New lab or legislation
After the 18th amendment of the constitution the subject of the labour legislation was devolved to the princes, which started making their own labour laws. The pace of the new legislation in provinces is slower in most provinces apart from Sindh, where the maximum number of new labour laws has been passed. Report also said that legislation on occupational safety and health facilities awaits adoption and during 2017 more deaths was reported from coal mines in Balochistan, where occupational safety and health facilities are negligible.
National Party Punjab Chapter also took out rally form Railway Station to Transit Chowk through Peshawar Road.In Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, several labour organizations including Pakistan Workers Confederation, National Labour Federation Pakistan, All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union, Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), political parties and social organizations held programs in support of labour community’s rights.
PML-N Labour Wing also organized labour convention at Alhamra to acknowledge the efforts of the labourers in the development of the country.
Rallies were also taken out in Multan by labour unions, civil
organizations, political parties to mark the day. National
health programme employees association took out a rally
from Dera Adda chowk to Nawan Sheher.
In Karachi, workers along with political activists organized a series of public meetings and rallies.
The Sindh government in the first half of the day held a special session chaired by Chairman, Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto, to distribute cheques among workers who either got injured or were exposed to any sort of work hazard that compromised their life quality.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on the occasion said that since the introduction of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution the PPP government in Sindh has introduced some 13 different labour friendly laws.
A gathering was also held at the Karachi Cantonment Station by Railway workers to pay tributes workers of Chicago who sacrificed their lives.
In Peshawar, a big rally was held in support of labouers wherein people were holding placards and banners inscribed with pro-labour slogans.
In Quetta and other cities of Balochistan province, Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) and other labour unions took out rallies to commemorate the Labour Day.
Rallies were taken out in Turbat, Panjgur, Kharan, Kalat, Noshki, Mastung, Sibi, Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Loralai, Qila Saifullah, Pishin, Khuzdar, Pasni and its others areas.
PWF along with other unions organized a procession which passed through different roads of the provincial capital in the Quetta.
The World Labour Day was also observed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday with traditional zeal and fervour.
Special May Day rallies and processions were held in all ten AJK districts, including Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Neelam valley, Kotli, Bagh, Rawalakot, Sudhanoti, Jhelum Valley, Havaili and Bhimbher districts.
Various organizations of workers and laborers of different private and public sector institutions held special ceremonies to observe ti.
