Work life: Habib Uni panel looks for labour lost from academia
Panellists encourage expanding the definition of 'labour' to anyone who earns a wage.
Piler's Shaukat noted that this depends on the role of the state and how the state sees itself in the light of labour.. STOCK IMAGE
KARACHI:
The absence of labour from the academic and theoretical realm worried the panellists at Habib University on Thursday.
Panellist Alia Amirali, a former president of the National Students Federation, believed this silence is because of the decline of the left. She was having this discussion with Zinnia Shaukat of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler). Habib University professor Fahd Ali was moderating the talk titled, 'Possibilities and Struggles: Labour and the Informal Sector'.
"Labour refers to industrial factory workers," Amirali pointed out, adding that there are hardly five per cent factory workers left. "Expand the classical definition of labour to anyone who earns a wage," she suggested. "Someone who earns just enough to survive and doesn't have the means of production, they come outside the realm of informal labour."
Piler's Shaukat noted that this depends on the role of the state and how the state sees itself in the light of labour. "When an authoritarian government comes, they try to discourage labour unions because of a threat of rebellion," she said, adding that the rate of unionisation in the formal sector is merely one per cent.
"Even if there are unions, women don't want to be a part of it because it is mostly dominated by men," Shaukat shared, comparing female workers in Pakistan to those in India. "It is because a majority of women are in unpaid arrangements," she said, adding that poor public transportation restricts women’s mobility.
Amirali gave examples of female mobilisation in Pakistan, such as the movements of lady health workers, nurses, doctors and female teachers, in which women have come out and are taking a part in politics. "We are constantly being represented by others and everyone is trying to be our saviour," said Amirali, giving the example of NGOs, the government and political parties. "We need to be our own saviours. We need to represent ourselves instead of these politicians."
Shaukat referred to the Trade Union Act that existed when Pakistan was made. "Our colonial masters were more understanding of the importance of these unions than our own governments," she said.
She pointed out how there are no laws for home-based or domestic workers. "They are so invisible that they are not even on the priority list of the government," she said. She regretted that NGOs get funding from international organisations. "They need self-evaluation to be self-sufficient and see if they are really upholding their causes and working for them," she said.
Amirali had a problem with how these NGOs do not challenge capitalism and how they merely talk about a different kind of capitalism. "NGOs are not substitutes for the politics that the working class has to do for its rights," she said. "We are all part of the system whether or not we like it. Either we can change the nuts and bolts of this system and use it to our advantage or we can revamp it." She suggested expanding the category of labour if the solution is to be found in unionisation. "When the left wing became weak, the unions also became weak," she said, adding that the labour needs to join the left to be strong. "Politics is a dirty thing and we have to get our hands dirty if we want these labour issues to be solved."
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2015.
The absence of labour from the academic and theoretical realm worried the panellists at Habib University on Thursday.
Panellist Alia Amirali, a former president of the National Students Federation, believed this silence is because of the decline of the left. She was having this discussion with Zinnia Shaukat of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler). Habib University professor Fahd Ali was moderating the talk titled, 'Possibilities and Struggles: Labour and the Informal Sector'.
"Labour refers to industrial factory workers," Amirali pointed out, adding that there are hardly five per cent factory workers left. "Expand the classical definition of labour to anyone who earns a wage," she suggested. "Someone who earns just enough to survive and doesn't have the means of production, they come outside the realm of informal labour."
Piler's Shaukat noted that this depends on the role of the state and how the state sees itself in the light of labour. "When an authoritarian government comes, they try to discourage labour unions because of a threat of rebellion," she said, adding that the rate of unionisation in the formal sector is merely one per cent.
"Even if there are unions, women don't want to be a part of it because it is mostly dominated by men," Shaukat shared, comparing female workers in Pakistan to those in India. "It is because a majority of women are in unpaid arrangements," she said, adding that poor public transportation restricts women’s mobility.
Amirali gave examples of female mobilisation in Pakistan, such as the movements of lady health workers, nurses, doctors and female teachers, in which women have come out and are taking a part in politics. "We are constantly being represented by others and everyone is trying to be our saviour," said Amirali, giving the example of NGOs, the government and political parties. "We need to be our own saviours. We need to represent ourselves instead of these politicians."
Shaukat referred to the Trade Union Act that existed when Pakistan was made. "Our colonial masters were more understanding of the importance of these unions than our own governments," she said.
She pointed out how there are no laws for home-based or domestic workers. "They are so invisible that they are not even on the priority list of the government," she said. She regretted that NGOs get funding from international organisations. "They need self-evaluation to be self-sufficient and see if they are really upholding their causes and working for them," she said.
Amirali had a problem with how these NGOs do not challenge capitalism and how they merely talk about a different kind of capitalism. "NGOs are not substitutes for the politics that the working class has to do for its rights," she said. "We are all part of the system whether or not we like it. Either we can change the nuts and bolts of this system and use it to our advantage or we can revamp it." She suggested expanding the category of labour if the solution is to be found in unionisation. "When the left wing became weak, the unions also became weak," she said, adding that the labour needs to join the left to be strong. "Politics is a dirty thing and we have to get our hands dirty if we want these labour issues to be solved."
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2015.