South Punjab Labour Conference, Multan, 7th September 2007
The working class in Pakistan has been facing hardship and tyranny at the hands of the state for a long time now. Downsizing, Contract Labour, privatisation, Industrial Relations Ordinance IRO 2002, Laws like 2A and 27B are all a nightmare for the working class in Pakistan. These draconian laws and policies have de facto banned trade union activities in Pakistan and have subjected the workers to a state of being mere slaves of the state and the capitalists.
Alongside all these laws the ever-increasing rate of inflation, crisis of electricity supply, poor infrastructure of the health system and other basic needs and the increase in working hours have turned the worker into a miserable creature.
The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign has now been working for more than a decade to lift the working class out of this misery and break the silence in the labour movement and organise the working class on a revolutionary basis. The efforts of the PTUDC are now bearing fruit and labour conferences are now being held across the country to break the ice. Together with this Joint Action Committees (JACs) are being formed to organise the workers from different sectors and Trade Unions on one platform.
A Labour and Employees JAC was formed in Multan for the same purpose on May Day this year. This committee meets weekly and discusses various issues confronting the labour movement. It was this Committee that decided to hold a labour Conference of the South Punjab region on 7th September in Multan.
The conference was held at a time when employees and workers of TEVTA (Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority), the Pakistan Medical Association, the Power Looms Association and APCA (All Pakistan Clerks Association) had been struggling for their rights and were holding demonstrations and rallies in Multan. Also, a referendum is being held on 12th September in WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority), the largest department of Pakistan.
This was the first conference in the history of Multan to be organised and held by representatives of workers and employees of various departments. The participation of the employees of TEVTA, after they had held a rally in the city, the presence of representatives of the workers from all the regions of Pakistan, and the duration of the conference - 9 hours long - indicate that this conference will boost the confidence of the working class and will be a milestone in the decisive struggles of the working class which is already on the move.
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| Invitation card |
The conference was presided by the president of the Labour & Employees JAC, Tahir Khan Khakwani, while Member of the National Assembly (MNA) and President of the PTUDC, comrade Manzoor Ahmed was the Chief Guest. The General Secretary of the Action Committee, Mujahid Pasha, was the Stage Secretary.
Chief Guest Comrade Manzoor Ahmed in his address to the Conference compared the conditions of the Labour Movement in Pakistan to that of a Dark Night in which the struggle in various departments is like a small torch which is blinking in the darkness and this is the only hope of the workers of Pakistan. He said that the ruling classes want to sell this country to the capitalists piece by piece through privatisation. 149 government departments have been sold while the rest are in the queue. He said all these departments are assets that belong to the workers and privatisation is a theft of these assets. He said that they may as well sell the Pakistan Army and the Pakistani Parliament to these brokers, and added that privatisation has failed in Britain and other European countries.
Comrade Manzoor outlined the poor social conditions in Pakistan and challenged the bourgeois economists who claim that Pakistan is making progress. He said that in reality 24 percent of Pakistanis live below the poverty line and this has increased by 74 percent in one year. 69 billion rupees are held in workers welfare funds, which are not being distributed to the workers. The rulers first banned the trade unions and now they are trying to curb trade unionism through IRO 2002. It is not only the present political leadership that has betrayed the cause of the workers but the leaders of the workers' movement themselves have sold the cause of labour movement in Pakistan. Workers should ask critical questions of their leaders. He said that the current political crisis could ignite a movement in Pakistan and we should be prepared to lead this movement towards a socialist victory, as there is no other way to get out of this misery and despondency of the working class. Only a socialist economy today can guarantee a free and healthier society with better living conditions for the working class.
At the start comrade Asad Patafi, who is also the organiser of the PTUDC in Multan, came onto the stage and explained the purpose and objectives of the Joint Action Committee. He said that workers in various departments have started waging war against various issues and are on the move. This explains why stagnation in the labour movement is no more, but what is urgent is to bring the different struggles together on one platform. If we succeed in uniting these struggles on one platform we can win our war. He also welcomed and introduced participants who had travelled long distances from other parts of the country to attend this conference.
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| Registration card |
Comrade Haseeb Ahmed from Karachi congratulated the workers on behalf of the workers of Karachi and said that we will fight this war together. He said that imperialism has forced privatisation and other polices on us like they have done in Venezuela and other countries. But like the people of Venezuela we have to stand on our feet now and unite against these attacks.
Abbas Taj from the Sadiqabad PTUDC said that the so-called "trickle-down economy" has pushed the masses into a hell of hunger and now we will have to wage a united struggle. Student leader from the Bhaud din Zikriya University, Qaiser Gormani, said that the increase in university and college fees have pushed the poor man into the abyss of illiteracy. Now the students and workers have to jointly struggle against this cruelty. Akhtar Awan said that the people who are running this cruel system are united in their interests, so to match their strength we will have to unite our forces. Comrade Kajal from Rahim Yar Khan PTUDC said that majority is deprived of basic necessities and we have to unite our class if we want to win.
Others who spoke at the occasion were Akram Noori, President of Power Looms Labour Association, Aziz Ahmed Khan, Advocate, Khaliq Qandeel, Central General Secretary of the Power Looms Association, Munawar Khursheed of the Income Tax Employees' Union, Zia ul Hassan Sabir, President of the Multan Peoples Labour Bureau, Khalid Javed Sanghera, leader of the APCA, D.G. Khan Sattar Lund, PTUDC Organiser, Khanewal Ghulam Nabi Awan, Labour Leader from Pakistan Railways, Khuda Bux Bosan from WAPDA, Imran Gabol, Students' Leader from the Multan People's Student Federation, Hussain Khokhar Muhammad, President of the All-Pakistan Kiln Workers' (Bhatta Mazdoor) Union, Comrade Ishaq, leader from Sui Northern Gas, Malik Bashir Ahmed, Divisional President Multan People's Labour Bureau, Qasoor Razi, President Habib Bank Employees Union Multan, Shah Wali Rajpoot, President MDA Employees Union, Nazr Abbas Khokhar, President Instructor Union TEVTA, Farooq Bhatti of the Unemployed Youth Movement, BNT Multan, Habib Ullah Shakir, Advocate and President Punjab High Court Bar Association in Multan, Mirza Aziz Akbar Baig, Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and Ilyas Khan Advocate and a leader of the Pakistan People's Party.
At the end of the conference Tahir Khakwani thanked all participants and vowed to continue the united struggle of the workers.
Messages of solidarity with South Punjab Labour Conference
Among the many messages received were the following:
From Alan Woods, editor Marxist.com
Dear comrades,
The holding the Labour Conference of South Punjab on September 7 in Multan is a big step forward for the working class of Pakistan and the whole Subcontinent.
This Conference is proof of the important work that has been done by the PTUDC and Labour&Employees Joint Action Committees. It will mark a new stage in the struggle for a better life and the socialist transformation of society.
I wish to send my warmest greetings to all the delegates, and particularly to my friend and comrade Manzoor, president of the PTUDC and an outstanding leader of the working people of Pakistan.
I followed with great enthusiasm the National labour conference that was held in Rawalpindi on 19th Dec. 2006 in which it was decided that joint action committees should be formed on regional levels throughout the whole country. This South Punjab conference is an important step to implement that decision.
This important conference will unite the workers of different sectors and industries on one platform and wage war against privatisation and brutal labour laws like IRO-2002, 2A and 27 B. These laws, passed by the Musharraf regime, which put a ban on trade union activity and other labour rights are a criminal aggression against the most basic rights of working people.
I express my firmest solidarity with this conference and my complete support for the heroic struggles of the Pakistan labour and trade union movement.
Long live the labour movement!
Long live socialism!
Workers of the world unite!
Comradely,
Alan Woods
From Spain
From the Spanish Marxist Current El Militante we want to send ours warmer greetings to the Conference labour of South Punjab. We follow by far interest the events in Pakistan and the heroic struggles of the Pakistani working class against the anti-working policy and privatisations of the Musharraf government. We know that eventually your fight will succeed and the Pakistani working class will become a light that will guide us in our fight for a more a just society.
Revolutionary greetings,
Spanish Marxist Current El Militante
From Iran
اتحاديه سوسياليستهای انقلابی ايران
iran_socialists@yahoo.com - http://www.pishtaaz.com/kargar/english.htm
To the South Punjab Labour Conference
5 September 2007
Comrades!
The Iranian Revolutionary Socialists' League (IRSL) sends its fraternal greeting to the comrades of the PTUDC, Labour & Employees Joint Action Committees and all activists attending the South Punjab Labour Conference.
At this crucial time, when the military are making backroom deals with the main political parties of Pakistan, it is important to raise the strong voice of the sons and daughters of the working class and to rally all workers in defending their rights, jobs and livelihoods - irrespective of the form that the bosses' government takes.
We salute your serious and steadfast approach to this struggle and wish you every success in your work.
Revolutionary greetings
Maziar Razi and Morad Shirin
For and on behalf of Iranian Revolutionary Socialists' League
From Argentina
Dear comrades:
We salute your Conference, knowing that it will be an important turning point in the development of the Pakistan workers' movement. As you, the Argentinian workers are suffering the bad consequences of privatisations and the reactionary laws set up in the past. But we are now stronger than before. Argentinian workers are struggling today and we have the highest number of strikes in 20 years.
We send you our greetings and we wish you the best success in this meeting.
Forward to the international unity of working class!
Long Live the Pakistan working class!
Long Live the international working class!
Demian Marcos: miembro de la corriente sindical "La Llama" del sindicato de comercio, e integrante de la Junta Directiva de la agrupación sindical Encuentro Sindical de Base-El Mortero de la ciudad de Buenos Aires Jorge Miños: Trabajador encargado de edificios, miembro de la corriente sindical "20 de diciembre" del sindicato de encargados y porteros de edificios, SUTERH. Integrante de la Junta Directiva de la agrupación sindical Encuentro Sindical de Base-El Mortero de la ciudad de Buenos Aires Andrés Goldberg: trabajador docente de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, afiliado al sindicato docente universitario, AGD-UBA Sergio González: trabajador de prensa, miembro del Sindicato de Prensa-La Plata, e integrante de la Junta Directiva de la corriente intersindical Movimiento Intersindical Clasista (MIC) del partido comarcal de La Plata (Provincia de Buenos Aires) Daniela Sáenz: trabajadora municipal, miembro del sindicato de empleados públicos, ATE-Municipales de la localidad de General Rodríguez (Provincia de Buenos Aires) Aurelia Vázquez, trabajadora docente, afiliada al sindicato docente, SUTEBA de General Rodríguez (Provincia de Buenos Aires) Angel Perouch: trabajador bancario, integrante de la Lista Verde del Sindicato La Bancaria, de la ciudad de Rosario Verónica de Laurentis: trabajadora no docente de la Universidad de Rosario, e integrante del agrupamiento sindical, ETUN de la Ciudad de Rosario David Rey, miembro del Comité de Redacción del periódico obrero "El Militante" y de la página web (http://argentina.elmilitante.org/) Fernando Buen Abad Domínguez, representante de la Fundación Federico Engels en Argentina (http://www.engels.org/) y miembro del Consejo Consultivo de Telesur.
From Britain
Dear comrades,
We in Britain would like to extend our revolutionary greetings to your congress. The ideas of class struggle and Marxism are more relevant today than when Marx wrote over 150 years ago.
We must prepare our forces for the future and lay the basis for the end of capitalism in the subcontinent and the development of a genuine socialist federation.
Comradely,
Rob Sewell on behalf of the Socialist Appeal
From Italy
Dear comrades!
Please receive our warmest greetings to your conference.
The Pakistani working class has been attacked several times in the last years. The bourgeoisie, in Pakistan and internationally, wish to destroy any workers' rights and to reduce the working class to a condition of wage slaves. That is why your struggle against privatisation and Musharraf's anti-union laws is so important. In this fight, the Italian and the Pakistani workers are united together with the workers of all the world.
As happened in the militant struggle at Pakistani Steel, the workers will be able to stop the plans of the ruling class.
United we win!
Long live the international working class!
Milan, September 5, 2007
Claudio Bellotti, National executive committeePartito della Rifondazione Comunista, Simona Bolelli, Alessandro Giardiello, Mario Iavazzi, Jacopo Renda, national political committee, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista Serena Capodicasa, Matteo Molinaro Dario Salvetti, Giovanni Savino national coordinating committee, Young Communists - Partito della Rifondazione Comunista Paolo Brini, central committee Fiom Cgil (metal workers union) Samira Giulitti, Sara Cimarelli, National commitee Fisac Cigil Milano (insurance union) Paolo Grassi, Regional committee, Cgil, Lombardia Beppe Lania, regional commitee Filcams Cgil (Shop assistants' union) Orlando Maviglia, regional committee Fiom Cgil, Emilia Romagna Davide Bacchelli, provincial committee Fiom Cgil, Bologna Giampiero Montanari, metal shopsteward Fiom Cgil Bologna Ilaria Pietrafesa, social service shopsteward, FP Cgil, Bologna Ferancesco Santoro, Piero Ficiarà metal shopstewards Fiom Cgil, Modena Gianplacido Ottaviano, metal shopsteward Fiom Cgil Massimo Cavallotti, services shopsteward Filmcams Cgil Milano Laura Parozzi, transport shopsteward Filt Cgil Milano Antonio Forlano, transport shopsteward Filt Cgil Milano Pino Marazzi, transport shopsteward Filt Cgil Milano Silvia Ruggieri call center shopsteward Nidil Cgil Roma Andrea Davolo, provincial committee, Nidil Cgil, Parma
From Poland
Dear Friends and Comrades,
We, the editors of the "New Popular Weekly" (the biggest trade-union magazine in Poland) would like to express our solidarity with your conference. We follow closely and on a regular basis what is happening in Pakistan. It is a source of inspiration that amidst all the difficulties trade-union activists in Pakistan continue their marvellous job. We wish you all the best and hope to be able to read and report to the Polish workers on the results of your conference. We hope that your experiences will serve us to build here, in Poland where the trade-union movement is also under heavy attack by the right-wing Christian fundamentalist government.
Forawrd to the socialist revolution!
Wojtek Figiel
On behalf of the editorial board of the "New Popular Weekly" and Polish Marxist Webpage www.socjalizm.org
From Canada
Revolutionary greetings to the South Punjab Labour conference.
We wish you an excellent conference which will push forward the issue of workers rights in Pakistan. Privatization is legalized theft and anti-union laws aim to strike at the most progressive class in society. Those who oppose you must be swept aside. The emancipation of the working class in a socialist federation will bring an end to capitalist exploitation, war and oppression.
Forward to victory!
Yours in Solidarity,
Fightback, The Marxist Tendency of Canadian Labour
From Austria
Dear comrades,
We want to send you our warmest greetings for the Labour Conference of South Punjab. The strengthening and uniting of the Pakistani labour movement on a programme of class struggle is of enormous importance not only for the Pakistani working class but for revolutionaries all over the world. It is an example of how to build a real class alternative to fundamentalism and the barbarism of the capitalist system in large parts of the world, especially in the Islamic world. We are looking forward to getting a report of your conference which we will distribute in the Austrian labour movement.
Long lives proletarian internationalism!
Comradely,
Editorial Board "Der Funke" - Marxist paper in the Austria labour movement
From Sweden
Socialist greetings to the South Punjab Labour conference September 7, 2007 in Multan, Pakistan.
Last year I was happy to visit your country and to meet members of different unions and the PTUDC. I was deeply impressed by your work and your determination to fight and to win, despite difficult conditions. I wish you a successful conference and am looking forward to your reports and to follow your progress in the trade union work.
Solidarity and justice,
Workers of the world unite!
Lena Ericson Höijer Member of the trade union committeebranch of west Stockholm, Swedish Municipal workers union.