May 02, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1429

KARACHI, May 1: Aslam Baig does not know May 1 is a day dedicated to workers everywhere. He has no idea of its significance or of what happened in 1886 in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. Chances are the young labourer from Bajaur Agency will spend the holiday the way he spends every other day: waiting, under the merciless Karachi sun with his tools spread out in front of him at the kerbside at People’s Chowrangi, for work. But work is not forthcoming.

“I’ve been in the city for the past two months. In this period I’ve managed to find work just two or three times. There’s not much work to go around. I come here in the morning, sometimes as early as 6am, and wait till the evening,” he says.

Aslam Baig says the fragile law and order situation in the city has further affected his meagre income.

“We’re lucky to find work two or three days in a month. We take out loans just to eat. I charge Rs400 per day. But because of the problems of the past few months, sometimes people give us Rs300, sometimes Rs200. We have to accept whatever we can get. We have no choice. Sometimes we don’t even get that much.”

Though Aslam Baig is married, he does not have any children: still, it’s extremely difficult for him to meet his household expenses. He says he is not too well informed about the significance of May Day because he sits by the kerbside all day waiting for work.

When asked if the rallies and conferences that will be held on the day help the cause of workers, he shows a remarkable astuteness that flies in the face of the stereotype of a humble, uninformed worker.

“InshaAllah, I have hope. I have hope that the government will give workers their rights. But if the government is run in the manner it has been over the past two months and if things remain the way they are now, it’s unlikely things will change. But I have not lost hope.”

He said the spiralling prices of items of daily use in Bajaur compelled him to come to Karachi with his family looking for work.

“Foodstuffs in my hometown are very expensive. Atta (wheat flour) costs Rs1,100 for 40kg. Life was even tougher over there. We came here to earn, then we will go back.”

Asked what the government could do to improve the lot of workers, Aslam Baig says, “we ask the government to do something for workers. Create more jobs or more projects, as workers are fighting for survival. The sun beats down on our heads. We wait here for work the whole day. There are days when we eat in the evening, but there is nothing to eat in the morning. There are times when we don’t know where the next meal will come from.”—QAM