Workers vow to defeat attempts to divide them along ethnic, linguistic lines

Labour leaders have vowed to resist and frustrate all attempts to divide them along ethnic or linguistic lines.

They expressed this resolve at a Labour Conference held at the Karachi Export Processing Zone, Landhi, on Sunday. The conference was organised by the National Trade Union Federation Pakistan (NTUF) and presided over by NTUF Sindh President Comrade Gul Rahman.

Thousands of workers from various sectors, including a large number of women affiliated with the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF), attended the event.

NTUF General Secretary Nasir Mansoor said workplaces from "Khyber to Karachi had turned into slaughterhouses," as institutions mandated to protect labour rights had become subservient to capitalist interests.

Veteran labour leader Habibuddin Junaidi criticised the much-touted Punjab development model, saying the Faisalabad tragedy had exposed its devastating impact on workers. Without workplace safety, fair wages and socio-economic justice, he stressed, development remained an illusion.

HBWWF President Saira Feroz accused the textile and garment sector of prioritising profit over worker welfare, particularly in factories supplying international brands.

Despite global fashion trade projected to increase from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, she said, the workers driving this growth remained deprived of basic rights.

Representing the youth organisation Alternate, Comrade Aqib Hussain urged the country's 90 million-strong working class to detach itself from political parties aligned with elite interests and build an alternative political force rooted in workers' struggles.

NTUF Sindh General Secretary and SITE Labour Forum leader Riaz Abbasi warned of a coordinated attempt across South Asia to roll back 150 years of hard-won labour rights under the guise of a new labour code — a campaign he vowed workers would resist.

The conference expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and Venezuela and announced a large protest in Karachi in mid-December against anti-worker laws and efforts to divide Sindh.

Key demands at the conference included improved workplace safety, written appointment letters, implementation of minimum wage, an end to harassment, recognition of union rights, Social Security and EOBI registration, abolition of contract labour, and rejection of the draft Labour Code 2025.

Speakers also called for enforcing ILO-ratified conventions, ending immunity for influential groups, protecting the NFC Award and 18th Amendment, strengthening local governments, and compensating families affected by the Faisalabad factory tragedy.