KARACHI: Speakers at a seminar on the international labour movement in its historical perspective said on Sunday most of the country’s 65-million-strong workforce was continuously being denied their basic constitutional rights and 90 per cent of them were getting less than the mandatory minimum wages.

“Some 60m workers [do not have] their constitutional rights. They have no right to form their unions, neither are they being treated under the labour laws,” said Mushtaq Shan of the National Trade Union Federation while speaking at the seminar organised by the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences (IISS) at its office.

He said even gun-wielding members of an extremist religious organisation were used to stop the workers of a factory from forming their union.

“Rs15,000 is the minimum wage set by the government for a worker and 90pc of our workers do not get this pay.”

He said labour departments, governments at large and employers had formed the nexus to deny rights to workers.

Veteran union leader Shaikh Majeed said he had worked in a union that represented a political party in Pakistan International Airlines for years; however, when the party leader signed an agreement with Turkish Airlines, he left the union and formed a grand alliance to accomplish greater targets for benefit of workers.

He said more often than not political parties changed their priorities vis-à-vis betterment of workers and peasants after assuming power.

He said most political parties had kept nothing in their manifestos for labourers. Besides, workers were excluded from a 100-day programme recently unveiled by a major political party, he added.

“Many labour unions have written letters to the leadership of that party (Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf).”

Nasir Mansoor, deputy secretary general of the NTUF, said the workers had joined hands to ensure payment of minimum wages and eight working hours a day for workers in Sindh.

“We are sure we will succeed in this in a year or two,” he added.

Mr Mansoor said the workers in Korangi whose CNICs were in Sindhi language were normally denied work.

“Because they live jointly and often take sides of their fellow workers facing injustice.”

He said security officers of factories often worked for the employers or were deputed by certain extortionist groups instead of safeguarding workers.

‘Missing’ persons

Daughters of two ‘missing’ persons also spoke in the seminar in which they blamed the provincial Home Minister Sohail Siyal for spoiling the case of their ‘disappeared’ fathers.

Sorath Lohar, deputy convener of the Voice of Missing Persons of Sindh, and Sindhia, daughter of writer Inam Abbasi, said the minister had misstated that their fathers had been abducted by dacoits.

They said the whereabouts of one of the ‘missing’ persons, Imran Jokhio, a journalist, were not known for the past eight years.

They said they would continue to strive to find their fathers.

“They should either be produced in a court of law or, at least, we [should be] given an opportunity to have a meeting with them,” said Ms Lohar.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2018