Another day in paradise: As world rests, labourers starve

Day labourers say work is scarce; lack of protections, social security system leave fit, willing workers on street.

ISLAMABAD:

They shake their heads almost simultaneously. None of the eight daily-wage labourers, sitting under the shade of a tree by the G-9/4 service road near Peshawar Mor, have ever heard of Labour Day. They were not aware of why there was a public holiday in Pakistan on May 1 or of the history behind it. Even if they did, it did not seem as if they could afford to take a holiday.

Their wares — shovels and hammers and a drill machine — were lying a few yards away from the tree’s shade, under which they have just finished eating a brief ‘communal lunch’ and which at 2pm also protects them from the scorching heat wave that has settled in the capital since Monday.

First to speak up was Sher Muhammad, 45, a painter from Swabi, who moved to the capital back when Ziaul Haq was in power. With a skull cap and a flowing grey beard, he was also the most confident among the labourers, most of whom were hired by contractors to work on the construction of houses or plazas.

“In the past two months and six days, I have only found work on four days,” he says, while counting the days to emphasise its exactness.

The labourers said work was scarce and employers were never eager to pay up. Even when they do get work, inflation makes life difficult for them.

“All the misery is for the poor,” says Rafiq Shah, 40, a daily-wager from Mansehra. “Some days we have money for food. Some days we go hungry.”

Mumtaz Khan, another labourer from Swabi, said they could not return because of violence and instability in their native villages. There were other work opportunities in the twin cities but they could not ensure enough capital to start a separate business, according to Shah.

“We cannot avail government loans because we cannot get guarantors,” Shah says. “The loan schemes only help people who are already well-off.”

So the workers were left to daily wages — if, they can find work — Rs600 for a labourer and Rs1,000 for a craftsman — a slight increase from 2013 when the wage hovered around Rs450.

The Rs10,000 minimum daily wage requirement issued by the government also does not employ to day-labourers.

“If the workers are in a factory, then a workers’ union can improve their bargaining power, but even unions have limited presence,” said Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali. “But if the workers are on a commercial or private site, the wage is decided mutually and the employer can have his say in the bargaining.”

Muhammad thinks the government was to blame for the lack of work. He voted for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the elections, but in the year since it came to power, he says, the ruling party has not been kind towards the lower classes.

“Sharif is pleasing the traders who sit in their fancy shops,” he says. “He does not feel for the workers.”

The daily-wage labourers work eight-hours a day, but the certainty of work and social security was not guaranteed. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, only 1.56 million of Pakistan’s 59-million strong labour force have access to social security.

Even workers’ safety was not ensured in daily work. Muhammad said he fell down from a ladder twice during house painting jobs. On both occasions, the contractor made him run away from the site instead of providing any medical care. PILER’s Ali said since the private construction site was a workplace, the contractor should provide safe conditions for work.

“Unless there is state regulation, the employers will not follow safety codes,” he says. “There should be a government institution where labourers can register their grievances.”

But Ali also believed the individual worker was not in a position to demand his rights alone. Mass agitation, such as that by brick-kiln workers in Punjab, was one way to raise concern about workers’ rights.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2014.