LAHORE: The Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) on Thursday demanded legal recognition of agricultural workers as formal labour, with full access to unionisation and collective bargaining rights.

The PKRC conducted rallies on May Day and demanded enforcement of minimum wage laws in agriculture, with accountability for wage theft and informal exploitation and special protection and programmes for women and youth in agriculture, including access to credit, land, education, healthcare and legal support.

They also demanded land reforms to ensure secure tenure for tenant farmers and landless peasants, and to curb corporate land grabbing, universal social protection — pensions, maternity benefits, accidental insurance, and climate-resilient safety nets for rural workers and incorporation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) into Pakistan’s legal and policy frameworks.

They said that May Day is a reminder that the struggles of industrial and urban workers are deeply connected to those of rural and agricultural labourers. Yet agricultural workers in Pakistan are still excluded from labour laws, denied the right to unionise, and invisible in national policy-making.

They said agriculture employs over one-third of the national workforce, most agricultural labour is informal, with no written contracts, legal protection, or access to social security.

They said women agricultural workers, who make up 70pc of the active labour force in rural agriculture, are not even recognised as formal workers. They earn significantly less than men, often paid in kind, and face systemic discrimination, gender-based violence, and exclusion from decision-making. Most women work without contracts, without access to social security, maternity leave, or medical care, and face widespread gender-based violence, both in the fields and in their communities.

They said the Sindh Tenancy Act and other protective laws remain largely unenforced, with powerful landlords exploiting tenants and sharecroppers through informal agreements that leave workers trapped in cycles of poverty and indebtedness. In provinces like Punjab and Balochistan, government negligence, corporate land grabs, and climate-induced disasters such as floods and droughts have further deepened rural inequality and undermined food sovereignty.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2025