At a multi-party labor conference organised by Haqooq-e-Khalq Party at the Lahore Press Club, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s General Secretary Salman Akram Raja, Pakistan Peoples Party Central Executive Committee member Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad, and PML-N’s Chairman of the Standing Committee on Labor and Human Resources Chaudhry Amjad Ali Javed, along with dozens of social, political, and trade union leaders, addressed the gathering. They announced their support for the workers’ joint manifesto and emphasized that the working class must strengthen its movements and organizations.

Those who addressed the conference included D^r. Ammar Ali Jan, Farooq Tariq, Baba Latif Ansari, Advocate Rabia Bajwa, Rubina Jamil, D^r. Taimur Rahman, Khalid Mahmood, Saad Chaudhry, Sardar Khalid Malik, Muhammad Akbar, Muzammil Kakar, Advocate Ayaz Sindhu, Tahira Habib Jalib, Haider Ali Butt, Mohiba Ahmed, Irfan Mufti, and others.

The multi-party labor conference, which lasted for over three hours, saw the participation of central leaders from PTI, PPP, and PML-N together for the first time.

Addressing the conference, Salman Akram Raja said that an atmosphere of fear prevails across the country today. He stated that the worker plays a key role in democracy. The reason behind the powerlessness of our democracy is the powerlessness of our working class. Unionization is a right granted by Article 17 of the Constitution. The labor movement should be in alliance with the movement for democracy. Democracy in Pakistan will not hold until unions are made strong. Voices are being suppressed across the country ; there is a plan in action to deprive every human of their fundamental rights. An attempt is being made to eliminate the concept of democracy altogether.

Salman Akram Raja asserted that our commitment is to human rights ; if humanity exists, only then politics will exist. The measure of the country’s development has been made the measure of the development of the rich. Forty percent of our children do not go to any school by the age of 15. We have to fight this war. We must strive to secure our rights.

PML-N central leader Amjad Ali Javed, MPA, voiced his absolute agreement with the conference’s manifesto. He stated, “The Standing Committee has limited powers however, we have worked beyond those limitations. I have urged that first, government departments themselves should stop the exploitation of workers and not exploit labor rights in the name of outsourcing.” He said that we are building more houses in labor colonies [1] and have already issued orders to build schools in every district. He further stated that he is also against the Labor Codes ; for which eight different drafts were put forward for discussion, but further consultation is required and the discussion should continue until the issue is resolved.

PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad said that state and institutional coercion against workers is increasing. He said that social security is not national or provincial but global. The Labor Codes was made by the ILO and no one was consulted during that process. In its name, the rights of workers are being robbed. He emphasized that unionization should be at the industry level and salaries should be paid through checks.

The unanimously issued declaration on this occasion stated :

* We declare complete solidarity with the 19-day ongoing strike of textile and power loom workers in Faisalabad and demand an immediate increase of at least 8% in their rates. Clean drinking water should be provided free of charge in factories. The wages of female and male workers in factories should be equalized.

* We reject the anti-worker Labor Codes created on the directives of the ILO, IMF and World Bank. The purpose of this black law is to deprive workers of their right to unionize and is equivalent to handing over their future to profit-hungry contractors. This law has been created to legalize the contract system.

* Despite the announcement, the gazette notification for a minimum wage of 40,000 rupees per month has not been issued for millions of workers in Punjab’s industrial establishments. The failure to implement the government’s announced 40,000 rupee monthly wage for informal and daily-wage workers is the incompetence of the Labor Department and its associated institutions. We demand that a notification for a minimum wage of 40,000 rupees for 8 hours of work be issued for workers from all walks of life, and its implementation be ensured.

* Making workers work for 12 or 16 hours is illegal ; legal action should be taken against this illegal practice, while time beyond 8 hours of work should be considered overtime for which workers should be paid double.

* Out of tens of millions of workers in Punjab, only 1.2 million workers are registered with social security. Therefore, we demand that the issuance of social security cards for all workers be ensured.
* Free provision of medical services and medicines should be ensured in all social security hospitals across Punjab, they should be regularly inspected, and social security hospitals and educational institutions should be built in every district.

* In universities built on the land of labor colonies, workers’ children should be educated according to the labor quota, this quota should be increased, more labor colonies should be built across Punjab, and further expansion should be made in existing labor colonies to provide free houses to workers.

* The application of labor laws should be ensured in all private and public sector institutions and factories in the federation and provinces, and the Labor Department should be bound to not only register workers in factories and industries but also those working in the informal sector and provide them all facilities according to labor laws.

* The privatization of Utility Stores, PIA, Steel Mills, and all other government institutions should be stopped. The purpose of this privatization is not to sell but to buy.

* The Labor Department should be given complete permission for unimpeded inspection of factories and the authority to seal factories violating labor laws.

* Forced labor should be immediately eliminated from across the country, and the Bonded Labor Abolition Act 1992 should be implemented in its true spirit, the practice of debt bondage should be completely abolished and brick kiln workers should be paid a monthly wage based on the minimum wage criteria.

Farooq Tariq
General Secretary
Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committe