Daily Times

The morning of May 1, my daughter desired a carton of juices and some samosas to be bought for her. The time of the day she made the demand made me inquisitive of the reason for her wish and I asked her about the purpose. She said, “Its Labour Day and I want to treat the construction workers building a house in the neighbourhood.” Her reply made me think real hard. Why is it that I had never thought of doing this while I and millions like me enjoy the leisure time this public holiday declared in their name provides? Cultural acceptance has been provided to the Valentine’s Day and gifts are exchanged. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are celebrated but the public involvement in the Labour Day is nowhere to be seen. The toil and hard work of the workers building our dream houses is never appreciated and little do we do for their cause. We never let the thought bother us that we have created a society where the worker who builds the house we live in can never dream of living in one like it. Yes, we may do lip service in seminars the NGOs hold on the day but what more do we do? For my daughter, her reward was the smile her act brought on the faces of the labourers but we, as responsible grownups, need to do more to get our reward of a satisfied conscience.

The whole worker community in our country needs our support but the construction worker is the one requiring maximum attention. For this class of workers even the Labour Day is business as usual. The industrial workers at least have a right to organise themselves and raise their voice. On the other hand, the common construction worker who usually works for a small contractor has no such opportunity. These workers with very little education, therefore, remain unorganised and at the mercy of their contractor. Due to the nature of their employment, most are migrants in their town of work and this puts them at a greater disadvantage when dealing with their issues. With these handicaps such workers usually work in an unsafe environment and have to endure noise, dust, poor lighting, a lack of drinking water supplies and no proper toilet facilities. They are mostly either unaware of the importance of personnel safety practices and are seldom seen wearing any protective gears and kits, as they consider it as a hindrance in their work productivity that their contractor demands. Most of us may have seen these workers delicately balancing the heavy load of bricks on a plank of wood over their heads and carrying it for other workers to use. How many times have we stopped and thought of the hazards they face for a pittance? The site management, who should be responsible for ensuring personnel safety practices among their workers is uninterested as in case of an accident, the liability is never fully owned by the contractor. Generally therefore, injuries go unreported. While a labourer might receive first aid or preliminary medical care, specialised medical treatment or compensation is almost universally unavailable. The workers themselves consider the accidents a result of their own negligence as they have the mindset that construction is a dangerous occupation. Major accidents, in case they involve a worker’s death, may be reported due to the financial expenses and litigation that could be involved. However, inquiries are seldom held properly and responsibility never gets established as the outcome may hurt the rich and the established. Although managers or the contractors are the beneficiaries of the increased productivity or saving of capital required in the purchase of protective gear, mostly low-level supervisors are held responsible. Since the workers are usually non-residents of the local area and are often unaware of their rights, cash payments are usually accepted in lieu of pressing charges. Construction is big business but the workers who make dreams come true are themselves deprived of their basic right of safety at work.

Proper housing for the construction workers should be the target for our society so that a worker who builds a house can also dream of living in one. However, achieving this requires a robust economy that we simply do not have right now .Given the security environment that we have let develop, we cannot even think to have such an economy in the near future. Till that turnaround is achieved, can we not even provide for these workers a safer working environment? Is this asking for too much?

We must all raise our voice in support of a safer working environment for the construction workers and make the lawmakers realise that they need to effectively legislate for this unorganised class of workers, as effective occupational health and safety regulation for them is non-existent. We must concurrently ensure that the executive fulfils its duty to get implemented whatever law is currently available towards achieving this imperative.

Years ago, the state had insured all accidental deaths in Pakistan. It was later discontinued as perhaps later governments valued human lives even less. Can we not force this to be restored through public pressure? This would also help the construction workers who currently have no access to any insurance against accidental death.

The writer can be reached at thelogicalguy@yahoo.com