Daily Times

International Labour Day, which falls on May 1 every year, came and went in Pakistan without much fanfare or deliberation. Originally celebrated to honour the Labour unions movement, which set in stone the principle of the eight hour working day, now May Day is an event meant to celebrate the employed and work towards improving their rights and supporting labour unions. Governments all over the world use this day to emphasise their commitment to bettering the lot of income/wage earners and giving them their due rights. In Pakistan, however, May 1 is hardly more than another day in the calendar.

In Pakistan, workers and the employed are seen as little more than charity seekers — no matter that it is their hard work that makes the wheels of the system turn. Studies conducted on the state of workers’ rights in this country have yielded disturbing results: almost 90 percent of Pakistan’s workforce toils in an informal structure employed either on an ad hoc basis or made to work without the formal system required to give them their basic rights, which includes adherence to timings, salaries and benefits as outlined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). There are many institutions and individual employers who do not pay their workers for months on end, make them work at all hours and make them sign bonds to ensure that they do not resign or leave at any time not suited to the employer. As can be seen, the state of the worker is not really on the agenda but the convenience of the employer is. In the fervour of these pre-elections, all political parties are outlining, in their manifestos, their promises and hopes for the rights of the working class. These speeches and agendas, which aim to appeal to the masses just before polling day, reveal the same rhetoric: raising minimum wages, creating more job opportunities and increasing social security. However, all this has been promised before. What is needed is for the new government to adhere to some solid policies regarding the pitiful state of the employed who run from pillar to post to provide three meals a day. No government has actually lived up to elevating the status of the working class but this needs to end exactly ten days after Labour Day. *