Labour miseries
This May Day, we should see what we can do for workers who have become increasingly disempowered in an unjust society
The ability of workers to raise a voice for their rights has been drastically reduced over the years with curbs placed on labour unions. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Today, as the world marks International Labour Day, we will see the traditional marches of workers bearing banners and red flags, as they remind us on this day of the importance of the rights and protections they should be enjoying. These rights are enshrined within our laws, but the consistent failure to implement them means most workers toiling in our textile mills, our foundries, our mines and in other places, do so in the most miserable conditions. Little is done to ensure their safety or welfare and the various provincial labour department officials assigned to keep checks on this are rarely effective in ensuring that laws are enforced.
This is the reason why we hear so often of factory workers or miners killed in fires and in other accidents, with hazard prevention not a priority for employers. Failure to provide safety equipment adds to the risks they face and the situation is still worse in the large, unregulated sector comprising small workshops, farms and also private homes. In brick kilns and on agricultural estates, notably in Sindh, bonded labour remains a reality with entire families sometimes made to work without pay. Our failure to end this has continued for years. It is also true that governments have failed to put in place mechanisms to ensure the minimum wage is paid to all workeres. This wage was raised to Rs12,000 in the 2014-15 budget, but many, very possibly the majority, of workers do not receive it. The rules that would help deliver it to them are not in place. This negligence is unforgivable.
The ability of workers to raise a voice for their rights has been drastically reduced over the years with curbs placed on labour unions. Many of these restrictions remain in place, and the result is that the situation of millions who go out to work each day receives far too little attention. Behind the red flags hides misery; the emblem no longer denotes power as it once did. On this May Day, we should consider the reasons for this and see what we can do for the workers who have become increasingly disempowered in an unjust society.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2015.
This is the reason why we hear so often of factory workers or miners killed in fires and in other accidents, with hazard prevention not a priority for employers. Failure to provide safety equipment adds to the risks they face and the situation is still worse in the large, unregulated sector comprising small workshops, farms and also private homes. In brick kilns and on agricultural estates, notably in Sindh, bonded labour remains a reality with entire families sometimes made to work without pay. Our failure to end this has continued for years. It is also true that governments have failed to put in place mechanisms to ensure the minimum wage is paid to all workeres. This wage was raised to Rs12,000 in the 2014-15 budget, but many, very possibly the majority, of workers do not receive it. The rules that would help deliver it to them are not in place. This negligence is unforgivable.
The ability of workers to raise a voice for their rights has been drastically reduced over the years with curbs placed on labour unions. Many of these restrictions remain in place, and the result is that the situation of millions who go out to work each day receives far too little attention. Behind the red flags hides misery; the emblem no longer denotes power as it once did. On this May Day, we should consider the reasons for this and see what we can do for the workers who have become increasingly disempowered in an unjust society.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2015.