Daily Times

Every year on the 1st of May, people across the world including Pakistan celebrate the Labour Day as a public holiday. But does anyone think about what this day truly stands for. The question is has any of us done something of value for the labour class, or done anything to resolve their problems?

In Pakistan, a labour policy was promulgated in 1972, and the 1st of May was declared as the Labour Day, and as the member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Pakistan observes the Labour Day in acknowledgement of contributions of labourers. As a member of the ILO, it is Pakistan’s responsibility to uphold the core values of the ILO and to devise policies and schemes to protect the interests of workers. But sadly, what happens on ground is a totally different story. There is a more of talking and less of action. So 1st of May comes, and, we enjoy a day off, read blogs on the Labor Day, watch special TV programmes and then just go on with our daily routines, and as soon as the day ends we forget all about it. But for labourers the situation is ugly.

Through this article I wish to highlight the issue of bangle makers who work from their homes to earn for survival of their households. They face several problems like inadequate education, lack of skills, physical mobility, safety and a limited access to productive resources. Hyderabad is notable for the beauty and quality of its handmade products. Of the entire female workforce of Hyderabad, which is estimated at about 600,000, as much as 75 percent of those women are employed in bangle making. Bangles are an important feminine ornament for eons in many parts of the world, particularly in the subcontinent.

With the Partition in 1947, bangle makers migrating from India, the majority from the nearby state of Rajasthan, settled in Hyderabad and started their trade in their adopted hometown. This sudden infusion of artisans boosted the Sindhi craft of bangle making. Afterwards, more and more artisans adopted the trade and became professional bangle makers. It is estimated that today, directly or indirectly, more than one million artisans, assistants and associated workers are employed in Hyderabad’s bangle industry.

In some cases, bangles are so beautifully made they are almost like a work of art. But nobody knows about the backbreaking work and the suffering and pain bangle-making artisans undergo. A large percentage of the workforce engaged in bangle making is women and children. These workers typically receive very low wages. They start to suffer from different ailments like backache, joint pain, eye diseases, burning sensation, suffocation, dehydration, asthma, and, most commonly, tuberculosis due to unhealthy and unhygienic environment. Smoke produced by burning of kerosene oil or gas in furnaces affects their lungs. Families, consisting of five or 10 members live in poorly ventilated, rented rooms, most without fans because of intense load-shedding. Most of them cook, eat, sleep and work in the same room.

A large majority of these workers are unskilled, and only a small number is equipped with basic training in bangle making, and that is what they learn from their elders during bangle making at their home.

In Hyderabad, about 80 percent of total work force is engaged in this informal sector due to reasons like illiteracy, lack of skills, poverty and lack of work opportunities. Of the total work force of the bangle-making industry, 80 percent are women and girls. Poverty and virtual non-availability of other employment opportunities are the major reasons of the participation of women and girls in bangle-making industry. Moreover, customs of society restrict the mobility of women and young girls. They are traditionally not allowed to go out of their homes.

If you ask any bangle worker why he or she is doing this work, their answer mostly is that it gives them a bit of satisfaction to be able to earn some money to help their parents and families, and that their contributions supplement the income of male members of their families. With much of their working lives limited to their workplaces and homes, they have no time, and fewer means of learning other, better-paying trades. As in other trades and industries, a girl born to a bangle worker gives up her childhood very early in life, with lifelong drudgery ahead of her. Making of bangles is an extremely laborious process, and often dangerous. Each bangle passes through the hands of about 60 workers before it is ready for sale.

There is not a great deal of hope when I look at the present situation, as there does not seem to be any proper implementation of labour laws. There should be international monitoring in Pakistan, and people should be held accountable for the people who work for them. I know many people who are working as labourers just for a very small amount, and they don’t even have one day off from work. And that is because the day they don’t work there is no food in their house.

The writer is a Lahore-based social and political activist. Presently, he is linked with a humanitarian organisation working in Interior Sindh, and he can be reached at salmanali088@gmail.com