Labour Day

May Day, celebrated throughout the northern hemisphere for centuries, began as a spring festival. Its transformation into a labour day commemorates the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago when a strike for an eight-hour workday was disrupted by an unidentified person throwing a bomb which led to the police firing indiscriminately into the crowd, killing dozens of demonstrators. Today, May Day is a national holiday in around 80 countries and is celebrated unofficially in several others and epitomises workers rights including their right to collectively bargain.
In Pakistan, May Day began to be celebrated during Z A Bhutto's period of rule and empowering workers, be they farm or city labourers, and increasing employment opportunities has come to symbolise political agenda of Pakistan People's Party (PPP). While at first glance these objectives are praiseworthy and a must form the basis of an agenda of each political party yet in Pakistan these objectives have compromised productivity instead of raising it. PPP governments of the past as well as the one which completed its constitutional term on March 16, have used state entities as recruitment centres for PPP supporters, recruitment that was not justified in terms of the relevant experience or education of the candidate or indeed reflect the employment requirements of the entity. Thus over-employment in nearly all autonomous entities, including Pakistan Steel and Pakistan International Airlines, has been the hallmark of PPP governments which accounts for the financial collapse of several state-owned entities and their consequent reliance on large and sustained bailout packages from the taxpayers' money.
In short, the PPP has not focused on increasing employment opportunities within the economy that would have led to an increase in the number of available jobs which in turn would have increased productivity rather than compromise it. In this context it maybe recalled that the then Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani proudly stated in his speeches that if he was found guilty of providing jobs to the people again he would gladly succumb to the charges. This is a reflection of a dangerous mindset that is profoundly flawed. PM Gilani, it can be contended, would not over-employ people in his own business enterprises and no one must be allowed to over-employ in state-owned entities, the cost of which is borne by the hapless people of this country.
The other major focus of Pakistani governments with respect to labour has been the announcement of a minimum wage. Gilani announced a minimum wage of 8000 rupees in 2012 which was trumped by the then Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif by an additional 1000 rupees. Thus he announced a minimum wage of 9000 rupees per month. Ironically neither of these two politically savvy men could implement the minimum wage as many in the private sector thought it was not justified given the state of the economy. A minimum wage cannot be pulled out of a hat so to speak but be a reflection of several economic factors including the nature of the job, the demand for that job and the available supply of labour for that job.
In addition, labour in all countries, including Pakistan, is opposed to privatising poorly performing state-owned entities and feels more comfortable in dealing with the state in demanding higher wages and resisting redundancies relative to the private sector. Thus Pakistan's privatisation policy has been held hostage by labour and once again continued state financial support, at the cost of the taxpayer, has been evident in budgetary allocations.
There is no doubt that labour needs to be given its rights; however, it is hoped that these rights are within the context of the state of the economy and the overarching objective at this point in our history must be one of enhanced productivity that has the capacity to take us out of the current recessionary phase.
The state has miserably failed to create a structure which allows training and skill sets to labour. Further, most of the labour still works on the farms. There are no minimum wages or social security, etc, for farm workers that their counterparts enjoy in industrial or commercial sectors in the urban area. Because of poor policies, Pakistan suffers both from high unemployment as well as underemployment. Our education system produces abundance of white-collar persons not needed by businesses in the private sector, contributing to more pressure on government jobs. At present, the country is in a total disarray. Let us hope the election produces a stable government with a vision and understanding that there are no shortcuts that will achieve results in six months. If they set the direction right-positive improvement will come in three years or more, but well in time, before the next general election.