KARACHI: A Mazdoor March was organised on the eve of International Labour Day outside the Karachi Press Club by several organisations.

Chanting slogans and paying rich tributes to workers who still work despite all challenges and hardship, they marched for labour, in factories, in homes, they marched for respect, for security, and they marched for their basic rights.

The rally participants said that privatisation of government services and state-owned enterprises has also had a direct impact on marginalised communities’ access to basic public services and social protection programmes.

The removal of subsidies, bailouts for corporations, austerity measures and cuts in social development spending in Pakistan have further made the lives of women, gender minorities and other poor and marginalised communities more precarious.

Participants call upon govt to end menace of bonded labour

The subcontracting and third-party contracting system across productive sectors gives no protection regarding minimum wage, social security, health insurance and occupational or job security. Meanwhile, women and gender minorities in particular are denied minimum wage and decent work.

They demanded living wages for all workers be they working in factories, farms or homesteads, as sanitation workers or as domestic workers.

They also demanded social security for all and also for the government to take notice of the continuing practice of bonded labour here.

The organisations include Joint Action Committee (JAC), Tehrik-i-Niswan, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), Peace and Development Organisation and Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC).

Karamat Ali of Piler said that not much is different here in Pakistan today from what the protesters in Chicago faced on May 1 in 1886. “They were demanding an eight-hour work day and rightful wages. We are fighting for the same here even today. And our women workers are in an even worse condition than the men,” he said.

Fatima Majeed of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum said that women workers do as much work as men, perhaps even more and yet they don’t get equal wages.

“All of us work hard to earn an honest income but here the women who take care of their homes, their children as well as indulge in hard labour to earn a living are not treated equally though they deserve more respect for working double hard,” she said, adding that they were looking for respect and acknowledgement of their contribution in the country’s economy, too.

Social worker and activist Sheema Kermani and Azhar Shaan sang a tarana (anthem) to pay tribute to those who have over the years given their lives while standing up for their rights and demanding justice. They cried for the rights of workers who turn the wheel of prosperity for their country while the stoves in their own kitchens remain cold. But his song also included hope for the future like there is morning after night.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023