HYDERABAD: On the eve of International Labor Day, the Sindh Community Foundation with the collaboration of the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Feed The Minds, and Indigo Textile, held a women workers’ convention with the theme of “Social Justice and Decent Work for All” in Matiari. More than 200 women cotton workers gathered at the convention. This year’s theme underscored the fundamental principles of fairness, equality, and dignity in the workplace.
Deputy Commissioner Matiari Muhammad Yousif Sheikh, Javed Hussain, a climate and rights activist and Head of Sindh Community Foundation, Zubaida Thaheem and Rafiq Jamli from Social Welfare department, Mashooq Ali Memon from the Directorate of Labor Hyderabad region, Shahnaz Sheedi, a women rights activist, cotton workers Zubaida Machi, Noorbano Majeedano were among the speakers.
The speakers emphasized that Labor Day holds significant importance as a day of recognition for the labor rights protection and as a reminder of the ongoing efforts needed to ensure fair treatment, safety, and dignity for all workers, underscoring the fundamental principles of fairness, equality, and dignity in the workplace.
Javed Hussain, Head of SCF was the view that that warmer climate is creating more troubles for agriculture workers as cotton picking is a cash crop for the livelihoods of the women cotton workers in rural areas. He said that around one million cotton workers are involved in seasonal labor to pick the cotton 90% are women.
He said climate change is a global phenomenon, and Pakistan is affected by the impact of the climate crisis. Excessive heat during work creates occupational health risks; it restricts a worker’s physical functions and capabilities, work capacity, and productivity.
He emphasized that decent work needs to be ensured, considering the climate crisis and challenges for these workers responsible for the textile industry’s growth. He said that the legislation related to agriculture workers’ women needs to be implemented in Letter and Spirit in the province.
Deputy Commissioner Matiari, Muhammad Yousaf Sheikh said that government is very much committed to protect the rights of laborers and address the issues of women agriculture workers.
He called for collective actions to solve the problems of agriculture workers together with civil society, government departments and business sector.
He said that climate change and environmental degradation are the major challenges for the workers which need to be addressed collectively.
Woman cotton worker Noor Bano, President of the Basant Cotton Workers trade union, said that the temperature is increasing every year. We never felt it before, but now it is becoming persistent, so during picking, we suffer from heatstroke, asthma attacks, and various forms of allergy. In this case, we don’t receive any health compensation from the grower to take care of our health immediately.
They demanded that the government should run the mobile health clinic during the picking season so that women could receive immediate first aid if they were affected by high temperature. She demanded health cards and insurance.
Zubaida, President of the Sujagi Women Cotton workers village MehoMachi trade union, said that due to gaining literacy skills by SCF, we have been able to calculate our wage correctly, and this has increased our confidence to negotiate for better working conditions with growers, however from the government side the law made for the protection of our rights is still slow and we don’t see any implementing at the local level. She also demanded that women agriculture workers be treated equally similarly to industrial labor and provided the same welfare schemes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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