Karachi [Pakistan], May 2 : International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day, was celebrated throughout Sindh on Thursday with various rallies, demonstrations, seminars, and declamation contests held at educational institutions and elsewhere, as reported by Dawn.
These events were coordinated by trade unions, political groups, human rights organisations, and civil society entities.
Hundreds of thousands of workers from both public and private sectors joined the rallies in numerous areas of Karachi and district headquarters such as Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Sanghar, Mithi, Umerkot, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Ghotki, and Kandhkot. Smaller towns and rural regions of Sindh also witnessed rallies, as reported by Dawn.
Participants honoured the workers who sacrificed their lives during the 1886 movement in Chicago for labour rights and paid tribute to all those involved in the Chicago Labour Movement.
In many of the rallies, attendees displayed banners and placards demanding fair wages, social security, workplace safety, and improved working conditions. Labour leaders and activists from various trade unions drew attention to issues like the notorious contract system and the repression of trade union activities in private businesses, trade, and commercial establishments.
They also called for the enforcement of rights for daily wage earners, agricultural workers, employees in both formal and informal sectors, and all industrial workers. The primary Labour Day rally was organised by the All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union (CBA), led by the union's president, Abdul Latif Nizamani, Mehboob Ali Qureshi, Iqbal Khan, Azam Khan, Sarwat Jehan, and others, as highlighted by Dawn.
The leaders vehemently opposed the privatisation of national enterprises and called for setting the minimum wage at Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 37,000 per month. Another significant rally in the city was held by the National Labour Federation (NLF), where its president, Qayyum Bhatti, along with Mubeen Rajput, Aijaz Hussain, and others, expressed their worries about the increasing unemployment rate in the country and pointed out that job seekers continued to face hunger. They noted that while labour laws were in place, employers often violated them.
The Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) organised a rally in Hyderabad, led by Pir Gambal Shah, Jan Mohammad Junejo, and others, opposing corporate farming and the federal government's appropriation of land resources in Sindh, reported Dawn.
Leaders of the All Pakistan Clerks Association-Aman group, Ghulam Nabi Solangi and Sarfaraz Rajput, informed rally participants that the price rise remained relentless. They stated that the minimum monthly wage for workers should be equated to the cost of one tola (12 grams) of gold, as cited by the Dawn report.
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