Below the poverty line: For labourers, days change but the story remains the same

There is no policy in K-P to provide daily wage workers their basic rights.


Asad Zia March 12, 2014
A daily wage labourer sits in wait for employment in the city. PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR:


Waiting on a footpath on Dalazak Road, Muhammad Azam stands in the rain with the tools of his trade, watching every passer-by with the hope that they will hire him and he will have some money to take home by nightfall.


Azam is not the only person who goes through this demoralising wait every day. There are so many others like him, for whom feeding their families twice a day has turned into an agonising task.

Passing through Chowk Yadgar, Tehkal, Fowara Chowk, Kohat Road, Ring Road, Charsadda Road, Board Bazaar, Ganj and other crowded bazaars of the city, one can see queues of labourers sitting on roadsides, asking every man walking by if they need something fixed, painted or bricked.



Azam is the sole earner in his family. With uncertain, meagre wages, he can hardly manage his daily expenses let alone think about sending his three sons to school.  “A few months back, I could not even consider the idea of my wife working as a maid,” he says, adding now he has no option but to ask her to work.

“Despite hanging around the whole day, I generally don’t get work and have to return home empty-handed,” Azam narrates his ordeal.

Summertime sadness

For labourers, summer is often the time to earn as people prefer hiring them instead of doing hard labour in the scorching heat themselves. In winter, the days are short and people easily do without the services of a handy man. That is when it becomes difficult for these workers to make both ends meet. “The chances go down to zero whenever it rains,” laments Azam.

“I used to work with my father before, but now he is old and cannot help around.”  Azam now has another mouth to feed and one less earner in the family. With growing inflation, the cost of daily commodities, especially food, has increased. What is a poor man to do, asks Azam, “Feed the children or send them to school?”

A hard day’s night

Azam says their work varies every day and they collect anything between Rs300 to Rs800 for a day’s labour.

“The wait to find work is never ending,” shares 24-year-old Zahid Shah. He came to Peshawar from Swabi with his friends, looking for work. Now he is married and has a child.

“There has been no work for the past five days and I spend the nights sleeping out in the open,” says his friend, Munasib Khan. “The last job I got was on Friday. They paid me Rs700 from which I spent Rs100 on food, sent Rs500 to my parents in Swabi and kept Rs100 with me,” Khan breaks it down.

According to Zahid, another friend of Shah’s, there are no jobs in Swabi. He was forced to move to Peshawar in search of gainful employment. Instead, he only gained more worries of how to feed his family of four.

Shoddy governance, poor economy

After the 18th Amendment, the labour and manpower department was mandated to perform the functions related to policy formulation on labour administration, manpower planning and increasing employment.

Industries, Commerce & Labour Department Deputy Director Hidayatullah said their responsibilities include the welfare of labourers, and the implementation of labour laws and standards through institutional improvement, and strengthening labour inspection services.

“It’s less about formulation of laws and more about their implementation in letter and spirit to ensure the trickledown effect brings about a positive change in the lives of these labourers,” explains Hidayatullah.

“Unfortunately, the labour market is currently faced with unemployment and underemployment.” He adds there is no policy at the provincial level to specifically provide them their basic rights and social security.

A draft is in the final stages for tabling in the provincial assembly, claims the deputy director. “If the law is passed, it will protect the rights of daily wagers and home-based workers to a great extent.” Hidayatullah says the draft is still facing issues after the opposition voiced its reservations over the draft. He requests politicians to speed up work on bringing it in the house.

“If we talk about the implementation of laws, they are mostly followed in the formal sector, like factories,” assumes Hidayatullah.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2014.

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