LAHORE: The participants in a national convention on Tuesday urged the workers to forge unity among their ranks to win and protect their rights. They also called for launching a political movement with cooperation of trade unions to safeguard the downtrodden of the society from exploitation by the ruling elite and capitalists.

The convention on labour rights was held under the aegis of the Labour Education Foundation.

The Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee’s Farooq Tariq, All Pakistan Labour Federation, Balochistan’s Sultan Khan, South Asia Partnership’s Irfan Mufti, Labour Education Foundation Director Khalid Malik, textile workers’ leader Niaz Khan, home-based workers’ representatives Shazia Tariq from Lahore and Tahmina from Charsadda participated in the convention.

Farooq Tariq criticised the mainstream political parties for damaging the national economy and ignoring the plight of workers during their tenures in power. He added that the workers must start their political struggle.

Sultan Khan said blaming others for miseries of workers would do no good to them and they would have to see their own faults behind their predicament.

Niaz Khan lamented out of 70m workers only 2.7m were registered with the Social Security and other state institutions and of them only 0.6m had social security cards.

Irfan Mufti said out of Rs6,500bn national budget, the workers would get only Rs40bn while their hard work was contributing around Rs5,000bn to the economy in the form of taxes.

Khalid Mahmood acknowledged there was need for forging unity among various trade unions but added that the workers needed to be organised first of all before putting pressure on trade union leaders to get united on a single platform.

Haneef Ramay, a senior trade union leader, demanded that all workers should be paid wages through the bank accounts as an evidence of employment and that they were paid at officially notified rates/wages.

Progressive Labour Federation president Rana Hassan lamented that the Balochistan High Court had disallowed trade unions in government departments. He feared that if upheld by the Supreme Court, the verdict would annihilate trade unions from the country.

Azam Khan Zarqoon, a lawyer from Balochistan, said the judges always served the ruling class as there was no independent judiciary anywhere in the world.

Aslam Maraj, Power Loom and Textile Workers leader from Faisalabad, said weak trade unions were a major reason for the predicament of workers as only a few people had been left to raise voice for their cause.

Ayesha Ahmed announced that the Haqooq Khalq Party would soon prepare a charter of demands for trade unions.

HRCP co-director Tahira Habib said the HRCP was ready to hold a consultation for developing a joint charter of demands.

Shazia Tariq said women workers were safe nowhere and those who raised voice against it were sacked from their jobs.

Urging the government to make a policy followed by a law to recognise HBWs as industrial workers, she threatened to come out on roads if the HBWs demands were not met.

Abrarullah, the president of Mehnatkash Labour Federation, KP, lamented that lack of leadership was failing workers and trade unions.

He said capitalists had made their federations but the workers were unorganised and if there was any trade union then it was not functional.

Muhammad Shabbir, general secretary of Pakistan Bhatta Mazdoor Union, said that years were consumed in making pro-worker laws but rules under the relevant laws were not framed for decades, depriving the workers of benefits of these pieces of legislat

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2022