Adil Najam
I write this post on May 1. Labor Day in most of the world.
We have written about workers and work, and about labor Day before. It is a good day to celebrate, because every day should be labor day. It is also good that the government made a big deal of this being Labor Day, that it used it to make high profile and visible political proclamations, and that it used it as an appropriate occasion on which to announce its new labor policy.
All of this is good. It is also good that the labor policy does focus on substantive provisions, including those for social insurance and old age benefits (even if on a voluntary basis). The center-piece of the new policy, and today’s big headline, is that the minimum wage has been increased for Rs. 6000 per month to Rs. 7000 per month.
Let us first establish one thing. The fact that the government has done this is good. It is clearly a step in the right direction. Well done.
Now, lets please take a moment to think about what this means.
What does it mean for someone – one assumes with a family, even if a small one – to live on Rs. 7000 per month? I do not think that this question, or its answer, needs any further elaboration from me. If you are on this site, called All Things Pakistan, you should be able to calculate an answer. And having done so, you should sit back in shock, and maybe even a little shame. I am doing that right now!
First, let me deal with the issue of shame. The fact of the situation is that nearly all government employees, even the most menial ones, get paid well above minimum wage. This is why there is line of constituents outside every MNA’s and MPA’s office wanting government jobs. Most government jobs, even low paying ones, actually have relatively decent benefits.
I know I will get flack for this, so let me be clear. I know very well that lots of government employees are paid abysmally. What we pay our teachers or policemen, for example, is a disgrace. And it is partly because of that disgrace that we get the further disgrace of increased corruption, incompetence, and professional uninterest. That is a serious and compelling problem. But a very different problem.
We are talking about those on “minimum wage” here. And the exposition of our own shame. Those who are at or near minimum wage are nearly entirely private employees, and a very large proportion of them are household employees and domestic help. Cooks, gardeners, sweepers, and other types of domestic help; in many cases children. Others are employed by small business, often under terms that are not just criminal, but inhuman – for example, workers in brick kilns.
Much as we are fond of blaming everything on governments, the shame in these cases is often our own. And the least we can do on May Day is to confront this shame, and acknowledge it.
Let me now come to the issue of shock. One of the earliest posts we did when ATP was first launched was on the (then) new Rs. 5000 banknote. It is a post that I still think a lot about. The point simply was that with the advent of the Rs. 5000 note, you could actually pay someone who would be considered as having a ‘good’ job (e.g., domestic help, even a driver at that time) his or her entire month’s salary in just one bank note. Here comes the shock – imagine that you work hard for a whole month, and at the end of it you are paid your entire salary for that month’s worth of work in just one banknote. Take a minute to think of what that would make you feel like! And what would make that feel about the worth of your work. And your own worth. Just think!
It is good that the minimum wage has been raised to Rs. 7000. But let us consider that this still means that someone can be paid for an entire month’s worth of work in two banknotes now – and then asked to return the “change”! Let us also consider that many Pakistanis will continue to work at less than this minimum wage. And also that nearly all of these Pakistanis will be paid this inhuman wage for their labor, not by anyone in the “government” but by other “ordinary” Pakistanis like ourselves.
And that is why I pause at reading the news and I sit back – in shock and in shame.
Tou qadir-e-mutlaq hai, magar tairay jahaN meiN
HaiN talkh bohat banda-e-mazdoor kay auqaat – Iqbal
More comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Do you have a cook or driver in your house. How much are they paid?”
– “I hvn’t any cook or driver here but at Pak yup n I don’t 9w how much dad pying to thm, thy r living alng wit us nt lik worker but certinly be a family member.”
– “do u belav on dat befor 1 year i workd at shahaalam market as a shpkepr n they paid me 2500 per mounth.hw can di poor man sevive”
– “all this depnd on strtgy hw governmt create oprtunitz 4 ppz,, hw thy raise da living stndrd their countrymen? in britain if sm1 is jobless thn govenmnt tk care of it. In France n Switzerland if sm1 is jobless governmt emplyed him/her in governmt insitution for three mnth alng paying, so tht at da end one get exprnce n put his efrt on postive way.
but whr is our government? is thr any plnning to handle the unemplyment, to cop wit corruptn? to gang mafia? povertiy, unjustice? whr r thy?
aftr if it’s not shame on thm but no one cn sy anythg.”
– “I am sorry, I do not want to be rude. But they are NOT family members and your saying so does not make it so. Whether they live in the house or not the question is whther they are paid a decent wage or not. If they are family members, I guess they take vacations with you, eat at same table, have also been sent abroad to study, etc.
Otherwise, lets stop fooling ourselves with this rhetoric and start thinking about our own responsibility on these things as this post says.
Sorry, do not mean to offentd.”
– “Is smthg intrsting in it, u were geting 2500 pm. why not u thk if u wrk hard in coming year u may have your own several shops in SHAHALAAM market.
but v nevr thk abt to work hard n change our mook.
in such crcumstn one would sy GOD help those who help thmselve,”
– “I’m nt gonna put any upheaval in such a blind discussion and don’t wanna uncover myself as vendor wht and how v r stating there. V all need to look within our neckline to retort what v r and what v r doing in our boundaries. I don’t saying anything but feel proud of knowing that our driver’s son recently got admission in GCU Lahore and his daughter passed her medical exam. Now for just few minutes look into your neckline what you have done for apex of society so far. Don’t let me 9w bt just thk what u can do more. thx!”
– “Min salary should be 15000”
– “They can say whatever they want for a photo-opp but the question do they really have the power to enforce it? or will anyone really follow it? Naray baazi bohat hogai.”
– “sare ministers or govt. officals ki p/m salary 7000/- kren phr awam ko ye KHSHKHBRI sunaye !!”
– “How conveniently we are all changing the subject and blaming government. THE PROBLEM IS US. What do we pay our domestic help, First look at your own self before you blame anyone else, friends!”
Adil, this may be the most dangerous post you have ever written.
It is OK to point out the problems with government, or some outside government, or even the Taliban. But telling Pakistanis that we need to look into our own self and our own behavior and that the problem may be we ourselves. Well, that will just not do!
We do not like seeing ourselves in the mirror, because we do not like what we see. And when that happens we turn against the mirror and whoever is holding it!
If people are going to discuss the wages of the hard working decent and honest Pakistanis and do not discuss the theft by government through inflation on one hand and robbery of tariff increases, including taxation, on the other, then either you are upholding the system or do not understand the subject.
What in reality these alleged “government benefits” are or if “a favor” is granted to the working poor is a subjective discussion about zulum.
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Excellent piece. The SHAME is not of the government, but OR own.”
– “shm on our RULERS”
– “According to latest household expenditure pattern, on average, a family spend Rs. 8583 on items of daily use. 7000? still not enough.”
– “it’s hardly to believe or evn just imagine tht how one cn servive wit such low income. I thk GOD, I blng 2 rich fmily and feel bad to cmpare my montly pockt money to tis minimum wage. How difcult is to work for whl mnth and thn just put off all witin one week.
May God help all ths pplz. Ameen”
– “Look at it from the employers point of view.. In a stagnating economy where people will be willing to work for less as long as they are employed do you think the employers have any incentive to Jack up the minimum pay..
I think governments are composed of people and if people are unwilling to cough out cash for their workers an already illegitimate government will fail in it’s objective.”
– “The shame is not on our rulers… the SHAME IS ON US.
Read the article http://bit.ly/ctFxX0 Most of the lowest paid people are household employees like cooks and sweepers and maids. ORDINARY Pakistan employ them. Shame on US. Government employees usually do make a living wage.”
– “i thnk minimum salry shld b. 10000.”
– “Do you have a cook or driver in your house. How much are they paid?”
Maybe you are being a little too harsh of everyone this time. We do a favor on someone my giving them a job in our home. So lets remember that too.