Labour leaders on Thursday announced to launch a big protest movement for the rights of workers which will begin from Karachi.
Addressing a crowded press conference at Karachi Press Club (KPC), they said that workers had been facing immense problems but the government was not serious in resolving their issues. They said Pakistan was considered amongst those countries of the world where labourers were deprived of their due rights. Though the state of Pakistan has ratified more than 37 conventions of International Labour Organisation (ILO) and 27 points under the GSP+ that include the labour rights, but it has badly failed to get them implemented in factories, industries and workplaces. “This is the proof of the class-based structure of the Pakistani state as well as its priorities. This is why the working conditions for their labourers are going from bad to worse with every passing day.”
They said in factories, mills and other workplaces no measures could be seen for the health and safety of workers. “There is no system of labour inspection and the inspectors of the labour department are seen nowhere. In this grim backdrop, precious lives of innocent workers go lost in gory industrial mishaps from Ali Enterprises Karachi to the factory building collapse in Sundar Industrial Estate Lahore. The anti-labor attitude of the government could be gauged from this scenario.”
They said the federal and provincial governments were continuing their anti-worker policies.
