Tuesday, May 1, 2018
#LabourDay - #Pakistan - From Karachi to KPK: Child labor on May Day
Parvez Jamil
It is highly revealing how the entire nation and indeed the whole world commemorates the 1st of May as Labour Day, while countless children sweat and struggle for their livelihood throughout the entire year.
The holiday, moreover, means little for the impoverished children who work even on May Day in Karachi’s Kharadar, Meethadar, Ranchor Line, Jacob Lines, Orangi, Korangi areas as monkey, snake and street-charmers, batlipaper walas, chana jorgaram walas, golaganda walas, champi malish walas, car cleaners, flower-sellers, cart-pushers, street vendors etc.
Unfortunately, the world continues to celebrate May Day, oblivious to the pitiful little ones who struggle for what amounts to a meager income as puncturewala helpers in Gulberg or in Chaburjee, Lahore, or as the little “chai walas” in the back lanes of Jinnah Road, Quetta, or as minor helpers for plumbers, masons and electricians in Saddar Road, Nothia, Chowkyadgar, Peshawar.
Indeed, one of Pakistan’s greatest and most renowned assets are our cute little laboring Sialkot kids whose magical fingers stitch the world’s best footballs that are used in tournaments which boast audiences numbering in the millions. These footballs along with other sporting goods serve as a major source of foreign exchange for Pakistan.
A similar story underlies the helpers in our cottage industry which produces carpets, textiles, embroidery, jewelry, ceramics, cutlery, woodwork, quilt art, leather bags, hats, glass works, pottery, basketry, needle work, leather craft and metalwork, all of which act as a significant fillip for the national economy.
Although it remains true that these talented kids are exploited by their employers, we must incorporate ethical values and stringent labor standards into these industries without attaching the stigma of child labor to these children.
We must aim to achieve a balance between the rapacious profit motive of industrialists and the national interest, and this includes taking care of the minor children working in different areas of the economy.
It is, therefore, essential that we provide these kids with a decent work schedule, good stipends, basic education in English, Maths and general knowledge, and recourse to healthcare and recreation.
The solution in fact is quite simple: It is only child labor if creative little kids’ promise and potential are exploited solely for enriching the financial coffers of industrialists and proprietors. It is not child labor if for national and humanitarian concerns, we remain conscious of our little magicians’ dignity of labor and personal development.
It will truly be a success if private-public partnership can design an able, noble, humble and gentle policy that replaces the stigma of child labor and at the same time spurs growth in our industries. Such a policy will also lead us towards a better and brighter Pakistan.
For as the adage goes, if there is a will, there is indeed a way.
#LaborDay2018 - Nearly 12000 workers of Pakistan Steel Mills face humanitarian disaster
As a result, hundreds have lost their lives in the past 5 years. In her Twitter message on the occasion of Labour Day she has demanded that government should urgently addresses their plight.
http://www.thesindhtimes.com/sindh/05/nearly-12000-workers-pakistan-steel-mills-face-humanitarian-disaster-nafisa-shah/
PPP will continue struggle for rights of laborers, working class: Bilawal Bhutto
In a message on the eve of International Labour Day being observed across the world on May 1, the PPP Chairman pointed out that Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto unveiled first-ever Labour Policy on February 10, 1972 and introduced trade union rights in the country. Peoples government launched Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme (BESOS) to offer free shares to the staffers state enterprizes, he added.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also hailed the Sindh government for announcing first-ever tripartite Labour Policy, which was unanimously approved by government, workers and employers as all the three agreed on the need of working through joint cooperation. No other provincial government could achieve this milestone because labour class had never been on priority of other political parties, he added.
He further said that it was again the PPP, which allotted lands to landless women peasants in Sindh and launched Union Council-based poverty alleviation programme enabling 600,000 families to break the shell of poverty and are earning livelihood through small businesses.
PPP Chairman called upon that toiling labour and working class people to join his Party and strengthen its power to empower and protect their rights.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari pledged that PPP would introduce more labour-friendly legislations in future and stands like a rock against all the forces of exploitation at work against the labour community.
http://www.thesindhtimes.com/pak/05/ppp-will-continue-struggle-rights-laborers-working-class-bilawal-bhutto/
Bilawal Bhutto strongly condemns the perpetual increase in the PoL prices by PML-N government
Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has strongly condemned the perpetual increase in the PoL prices by PML-N government to create unbearable economic conditions for the masses through unprecedented rise in commuting costs directly hitting the lower strata of population.
In a statement issued here, the PPP Chairman said PML-N increased PoL prices continuously since several months and its latest “parting petrol bomb attack” on masses has reflected its intentions to drag them into a slough of poverty and an economic disaster at ground level.
“PML-N’s is the government of rich, for the rich and by the rich as it started schemes favouring the elite to whiten their black money and thrive. The poor majority of the nation is being grinded between inflation and hopelessness,” he stated.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that PPP wont remain silent while PML-N government policies were sky-rocketing the prices of commodities and fleecing the poor. “PPP will raise its voice against PoL prices hike in all available forums adding that people will avenge the cruelties and ruthlessness of the Panama League in the next elections,” he added.
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-strongly-condemns-the-perpetual-increase-in-the-pol-prices-by-pml-n-government/