Labour leaders blame ruling elite for economic crisis

There is a need for an alternative political leadership to help resolve the ongoing economic crisis. People should organise around new leadership and wage a struggle for revolutionary programmmes.

This was said by representatives of labour organisations who expressed concern over the constantly decreasing purchasing power of the public at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Thursday.

Those who addressed the press conference included Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Comrade Gul Rehman of the Shehri Awami Mehaz, Zehra Khan of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF), Riaz Abbasi of the SITE Labour Forum, intellectual Wahid Baloch, Aqib Hussain and Faiza Siddiqui of Alternate, Saira Feroze of the United HB Women Workers Union and Himat Ali Phulpoto of the Textile Garments General Workers Union.

They said the ruling class was responsible for the ongoing economic and political crisis in the country. They said that notwithstanding the false claims of the rulers, the ground reality was that more than 250 million people of the country were facing a socio-economic crisis while the elite classes continued to enjoy their luxurious lives.

The labour leaders remarked that the ruling elite included feudal lords, capitalists, civil and military bureaucracy, land grabbing mafia and big traders who had been fooling the masses. They lamented that all political, religious and ethnic parties of the country had failed to resolve the issues of the people and no party was willing to introduce the required revolutionary changes to fight the prevailing economic crisis.

The prevailing economic crisis had not affected the luxuries of the elite class but the millions of the poor working class people were facing poverty and hunger, it was said. The speakers remarked that the huge hike in the prices of electricity, gas, petrol and transport fares had made the lives of the poor miserable. They added that the provision of the basic facilities of education, health care and housing was the constitutional responsibility of the state but these sectors had fraudulently been handed over to the private sector.

It was said that due to the bad governance, about 40 per cent population of Pakistan was living beneath the poverty line and it had been estimated that if the situation did not change, another 20 million people would go beneath the poverty line in the coming days.

The speakers were of the view that the labour class was not being allowed to form labour unions while the labour departments and labour courts considered workers as second class citizens. Forced retrenchments were common and there was no writ of the law in factories and workplaces, they said.

The labour leaders remarked that the villages had been depicting the picture of dark ages for some time but now the situation in town and cities was also worrisome as 30 million residents of Karachi, the city of labours, were deprived of even the basic facility of potable water and electricity distribution system had been handed over to a private company.

They also expressed concern over the rising lawlessness stating that citizens were being mugged in broad daylight which showed the failure of police and other law enforcement agencies. It was said that the megacity was being controlled by the mafias, and political parties were in a deep slumber.

They also blamed the establishment for the economic crisis saying that it sometimes ruled the country through a direct martial law and other times through a hybrid political system by selecting and removing the government at their wish.

The labour leaders called for unity of all progressive, pro-people, democratic and anti-capitalist elements of the country for a revolutionary economic and political programme. It was also announced that the NTUF, HBWWF, Alternate and Shehri Awami Mehaz in collaboration with other organizations would arrange protests in Karachi from October 1 till October 9 for the rights of the people and hold a big rally of workers at Regal Chowk on October 15 in which thousands of workers would take part and announce their future line of action.