Little to cheer about
‘May Day’ in Pakistan is more analogous to the distress call ‘mayday’
There is little to cheer about on Labour Day in the country. Consider the facts: tens of thousands of people cannot afford to take the day off as they struggle from morning to night to feed their families.
May 1 is less a celebration of workers’ achievements and more a conscious reminder of the former. Whereas in other countries workers are rewarded with bonuses as an expression of appreciation and recognition of their work, most workers in Pakistan are seen slaving away at their physically intensive jobs in the deathly heat of summer — even on holidays — pushing themselves to the verge of heat exhaustion in perilous working conditions. It is rather pretentious of our lawmakers to celebrate Labour Day when they have done little in the way of improving the abhorrent and oppressive working conditions that a high proportion of our fellow citizens work in.
According to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Labour and Statistics in 2013-14, the average worker worked 48 hours per week with males working 51 hours per week. For these hours, they received an average monthly salary of Rs13,000 although most of the workers earned only between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000. When we move on to white-collared jobs, the starting wages are somewhat better but, of course, range to much higher figures.
The fact that families from lower income backgrounds feel encouraged to send their pre-adolescent sons and daughters into child labour is indicative of the extreme poverty that many families live in, with negligible support from the government. For a country that prides itself on family values and nuclear structures, it is puzzling how this applies to workers who are given little time to spend at home.
‘May Day’ in Pakistan is more analogous to the distress call ‘mayday’ and our lawmakers need to act vis-a-vis the open human rights violations being committed against workers without whom the leadership cannot develop the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2017.
May 1 is less a celebration of workers’ achievements and more a conscious reminder of the former. Whereas in other countries workers are rewarded with bonuses as an expression of appreciation and recognition of their work, most workers in Pakistan are seen slaving away at their physically intensive jobs in the deathly heat of summer — even on holidays — pushing themselves to the verge of heat exhaustion in perilous working conditions. It is rather pretentious of our lawmakers to celebrate Labour Day when they have done little in the way of improving the abhorrent and oppressive working conditions that a high proportion of our fellow citizens work in.
According to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Labour and Statistics in 2013-14, the average worker worked 48 hours per week with males working 51 hours per week. For these hours, they received an average monthly salary of Rs13,000 although most of the workers earned only between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000. When we move on to white-collared jobs, the starting wages are somewhat better but, of course, range to much higher figures.
The fact that families from lower income backgrounds feel encouraged to send their pre-adolescent sons and daughters into child labour is indicative of the extreme poverty that many families live in, with negligible support from the government. For a country that prides itself on family values and nuclear structures, it is puzzling how this applies to workers who are given little time to spend at home.
‘May Day’ in Pakistan is more analogous to the distress call ‘mayday’ and our lawmakers need to act vis-a-vis the open human rights violations being committed against workers without whom the leadership cannot develop the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2017.