KARACHI: Labour leaders, industrial workers, women workers, youth, transgender people, social and political activists joined hands and raised their voices at a rally on International Labour Day or May Day, organised by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) on a blazingly hot and sunny Thursday.

A sea of red flags took to the roads from Regal Chowk to the Karachi Press Club to highlight issues such as corporate farming and the six canals issue, third party contractual system, the urgent need for a living wage and an end to global capitalism.

The deepening crisis of global capitalism, it was said, has placed the very survival of humanity and the planet at risk. Peace, progress, and prosperity are impossible under capitalism. Until and unless the working class emerges as a genuine alternative political force, liberation from tyranny will remain an illusion. This was the main message conveyed during the rally led by Zehra Khan of the HBWWF and Riaz Abbasi of the NTUF.

While addressing the rally, Nasir Mansoor, General Secretary of NTUF, remarked that International Workers’ Day was being observed amid global turmoil. “Capitalist and right-wing governments have taken control across the world, pushing forth their anti-worker agendas. Their policies have given way to fear, poverty, war and unemployment,” he said, while pointing to the ongoing economic instability caused by trade wars and protectionism among major imperialist economies and warning that capitalism was eroding from within.

Activists say capitalist and right-wing govts pursuing ‘anti-worker agendas’

Nasir Mansoor also emphasised that re-division of markets signals to the rise of a new form of colonialism.

“From the Israeli aggression in Gaza to the regime change in Syria, the Russia-Ukraine war, and China’s global investments, none of the world’s powers are bound by laws, treaties or ethics anymore. The capitalist system has promoted war, hunger, disease, and environmental catastrophe. We may be the last generation capable of saving the planet,” he warned.

Comrade Gul Rehman of the Workers’ Rights Movement highlighted how Pakistan’s ruling elite had adopted the same anti-people and anti-worker policies as their imperialist patrons.

“Centuries of hard-won labour rights, including appointments, unionisation, collective bargaining, minimum wage, job security, equal pay, social security, pensions and workplace protections, are being dismantled, systematically. The demands for basic services such as education, healthcare, housing and electricity have been dismissed as a rebellion against development,” he said.

HBWWF’s General Secretary Zehra Khan condemned the deliberate weakening of labour laws and institutions.

She warned of a conspiracy under the guise of a new “Labour Code” in Sindh and Punjab, designed to legitimise the widespread illegality of the third-party contractual system in factories.

“The ILO and government officials,” she claimed “are complicit”. She vowed to put up strong resistance against any attempt to enforce this regressive code.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt stated that feudal lords, industrialists, financial institutions and the establishment have formed a united front to keep the public in misery.

“The political parties are mere factions of the same ruling class, using religious, ethnic and linguistic slogans to divert workers from class-based political struggle,” he said.

Aqib Hussain of Alternate, a youth organisation, criticised the ruling elite for convincing the working class to continue trusting the very forces responsible for their exploitation. “Instead of uniting on the basis of class identity, workers seek refuge in religious, ethnic and nationalist parties, while fuelling extremism and regional instability,” he said.

Tahir Hassan Khan of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) condemned the misuse of the Peca law to silence journalists and restrict free expression.

Academic and progressive intellectual Dr Riaz Sheikh stressed the urgent need for an alternative political alignment rooted in class consciousness. He urged workers to rise above secondary identities and organise as a unified political force to defeat capitalism and build a just, equitable society.

Among the others who addressed the rally were Qamarul Hasan of International Food Union, Khaliq Junajo of Jeay Sindh Mahaz, Ramzan Memon and Shaheena Ramzan of National Party, Saira Feroze of United Home Based Workers Union, Saeed Baloch of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Bashir Mahmudani of Gadani Shipbreaking Workers Union, Kami Chaudhry of Hijra Festival, textile and garment workers and union leaders.

Resolution

The rally concluded with a resolution which demanded the removal of all anti-worker clauses from the proposed Sindh Labour Code, abolishing the illegal contractual (third-party) system, declaring and implementing a living wage for all workers, ensuring a timely payment of government-declared wages, guaranteeing registration of all workers with social security and pension institutions, an end to workplace harassment of women, ensuring safe and healthy working conditions. It also sought an end to all environmentally destructive and anti-Sindh water projects, including corporate farming and restoring and protecting the natural flow of the Indus River to the sea.

It was announced that a major workers’ sit-in will be held in Karachi ahead of the federal budget.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2025