PESHAWAR, May 1: The International Labour Day was observed throughout the province to pay tributes to those who had sacrificed their lives in 1886 in Chicago for rights of workers.
Processions were taken out and seminars and coroner meetings were organised in different parts of the province to highlight problems of workers.
In Peshawar, a function was held at the Durrani Labour Hall under the aegis of the All Pakistan Federation of Labour, Durrani group, which was presided over by Sarhad Transport Workers Confederation president Zahir Shah Yousufzai. NWFP Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah was the chief guest.
Speaking on the occasion, federation president Aurangzeb Durrani said workers’ with minimum wages could not meet even their daily expenditures. The fast increasing prices of petroleum products, gas, electricity, flour and other daily-use commodities, he said, had broken the backbone of the low-income group and that was why people were committing suicide.
Health Minister Zahir Ali Shah claimed that bureaucracy was the main hurdle in resolving workers’ problems.
Later, the participants marched up to the Chowk Yadgar while raising slogans against anti-labourer policies and demanding solution to their problems. Their leaders demanded that minimum wages of labourers should be fixed equal to the price of 10 grams of gold.
The National Labour Federation (NLF) organised a walk from the Jinnah
Park that ended at the Qissa Khawni Bazaar after passing through the Ashraf Road, Chowk Yadgar and the Dilgaran Bazaar.
Provincial NLF president Habibullah Shah, Peshawar zone president Abdul Sattar Hoti, Akbar Khan Mohmand and other leaders said successive governments had been denying rights to labourers and that was why their problems were increasing.
Workers affiliated with other unions, including the Pakistan Railway Labourers and Defence Trade Union, came in a procession and staged a demonstration in front of the Peshawar Press Club.
The Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union arranged a walk from the Atta Labour Hall, Nishatarabad, which passed through the G.T. Road and ended at the Hashtnagri Chowk.
The walk was led by union’s provincial president Abdul Latif and other leaders.
A rally was organised under the aegis of the Pakistan Mazdoor Kisan Party in Karak which was addressed by its district president Qadir Shereen Khan, Tariq Usman and Mohammad Altaf, said a statement issued here.
BATKHELA: Speaking at a press conference in Dargai, a former president of the Muttahida Employees Union, Malakand-III project, Fazal Mohammad, demanded compensation to heirs of two labourers who had died and other labourers who had got injured during duty hours, fours years ago.
MARDAN: Programmes were held in different parts of the district to highlight importance of the May Day.
Speaking at a meeting of the Islahi Jirga, Hoti, Dr Israr, Abdul Habib and Ahmed Khan said a large number of workers, particularly children working in hotels, workshops, houses, shops and other private places, worked for more than 12 hours a day.
They said 1,200 children were working in different places in Mardan who needed attention of the government.
They said workers whose duty hours were 12 hours a day were paid Rs4,000 a month.
Meetings were also held at the circuit house and the Mardan Press Club.
HARIPUR: The People’s Labour Bureau (PLB), National Labour Federation and the Hazara Labour Federation jointly organised a procession here.
The participants were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans for labourer rights. The procession started from the Chowk Sheran Wala Gate and culminated at the Benazir Shaheed Hall.
Speaking on the occasion, MPA Naeema Nisar, provincial PLB general secretary Aslam Adil, Tahir Qureshi and others deplored poor working conditions and said labourers’ rights were not being acknowledged. They held labour, EOBI and social security departments responsible for the prevailing state of affairs.
Mian Zahoorul Haq, president of the NLF, Hazara zone, accused entrepreneurs of the Hattar Industrial Estate of violating labour laws in connivance with the local labour department.
The gathering adopted resolutions demanding implementation of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s announcement to fix minimum wages of workers at Rs6,000, hiring of local people in industrial concerns of Hattar, shifting of the EOBI office from Abbottabad to Haripur, making sick units of Haripur functional, appointing an industrial ombudsman for checking violation of labour laws and monitoring performance of labour and social security departments.
BANNU: A meeting was held in the Akram Khan Durrani College to mark the May Day.
SWAT: The Spark Child Rights Committee Swat, in a statement, called upon the government to ban child labour and ensure protection of labourers’ rights.