May Day commemorates the working class’ struggle for its rights and the fight against exploitation at the hands of capitalist employers. Every year the day is celebrated in memory of those who sacrificed their lives for labourers’ rights such as the eight-hour working day. International Workers’ Day was created to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket riot in Chicago, when a peaceful workers’ rally turned into a violent clash with officers when police opened fire at the protestors. Since then, the day is marked with rallies, seminars and demonstrations across the world. The struggle of the working class for its rights is far from over despite the passage of 130 years since the Chicago events. New kinds of oppressive measures and tactics are being applied to accumulate more and more wealth through squeezing the workers. This year, the International Labour Day will be observed under the theme “Celebrating the International Labour Movement.” Pakistan’s first labour policy was devised in 1972, in which May 1 was declared an official public holiday, which also formulated the creation of the Social Security Network, Old Age Benefit Schemes and Workers Welfare Fund. Like many parts of the world, in Pakistan the rights of the working class are violated at the hands of employers who make money at the cost of workers, but are reluctant to give them their due rights even as per the existing labour laws. Trade unions in Pakistan have weakened and shrunk and been made ineffective through various government policies and rules. Our industrial landscape overwhelmingly comprises small and medium sized units where workers are usually limited in numbers. Government has issued strict policies regarding the formation of trade unions at such workplaces. Another factor that has badly affected the working class is the introduction of outsourcing employment to labour contractors. Organisations no longer directly hire employees. A third party, a labour contractor, inserts himself between employers and employees, and is solely responsible for their hiring and maintaining ‘discipline’. These contract-based workers remain deprived of social security rights and can be terminated at any time. Besides that, Pakistan witnesses one of the worst form of exploitation of its working citizens in the form of bonded labour, child labour and home-based work. Such categories suffer tough working conditions and earn very little. Brick kiln workers especially are subjected to inhuman treatment but government has failed to protect them. The practice is driven by economic necessity and the disincentive provided by our wholly inadequate schooling system, a situation that remains unchanged. Moreover, the privatisation of state-owned entities over decades has put thousands of workers and their families’ future at stake because of mass dismissals by new owners. The struggle must continue for the implementation of labour laws. Trade unions need to unify to regain their lost strength. Government needs to raise minimum wages to a living wage and put in place mechanisms to ensure safety at workplaces, provide social security to all workers, stop unnecessary privatisation, apply labour laws to brick kiln and home-based workers and provide proper housing facilities to labourers. Continuous struggle and resistance are the only way to eliminate all forms of injustice and exploitation.*