Activists demand action against sackings

Deplore govt's inaction, failure to implement ban on firing of workers

HYDERABAD: Activists from various civil society organised deplored the government's lack of action to help the labour force that was increasingly being laid off despite the government's restrictions.

The call for the protest was given by the Labour Solidarity Campaign, while leaders and representatives from the Awami Workers Party (AWP), Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), Pakistan Trade Unions Defence Campaign, Women's Democratic Front, Writers Association and Young Consultants Association, among others, attended the demonstration on Wednesday, carrying placards inscribed with slogans.

The participants' slogans called for the granting of unemployment allowance to the labourers and the increase of the minimum wage to Rs30,000.

"During the lockdown, the federal and provincial governments made a display of providing relief in the form of cash and kind to the poor labourers but nobody bothered to protect their jobs," lamented AWP's Dr Mubarak Ali. He, along with other speakers, deplored that instead of financially supporting the labourers, the government's financial packages only helped the business community.

CPP's Dr Eshwar Kumar said the trade and industry had created unemployment by laying off workers in large numbers during the lockdown, amid the government's indifference. The participants asked the government to ensure that all the sacked workers were reinstated by their employers.

Bonded labour

Meanwhile, at a separate press conference, the Hari Welfare Association (HWA) lamented the non-implementation of the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 2015.

"The lack of economic activity in rural and semi-urban areas of Sindh has pushed the workforce into bondage," claimed HWA president Akram Ali Khaskheli.

He shed light on the plight of migratory workers who left their homes to work in other districts during harvest season. "These people are the most vulnerable workers and they either fail to get work or they receive extremely low wages," he added.

According to him, the locust swarms and the resultant destruction of crops had also left a large number of peasants without work. "The lower the yield, the smaller will be the share of crops given to the peasants," he explained.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2020.