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
As Beena pointed out, ATP readers are unwilling to comment as well. Most probably because we are ashamed of the way in which we treat our proletariat and working class.
I’d like to add one thing though to your comments. Even though the elite class might be under taxed and evading existing ones, a society is more or less defined by the social and political activism of its middle class. In our case, urban middle class is become highly upwardly become yet remains the most uncaring section of our society. It is at the hand of these people that domestic servants are abused.
And this is the class that composes most of ATP’s readership. The indifference is visible in the fact that people don’t care about social or political change in a real sense. It’s either the luxury dream seeking let’s-go-to-Canada approach or the usual knee jerk pan-Islamist, mythical “Khilafa” and Sharia argument that emanates from each and every debate.
Indeed shameful….but when,aakhir when will things change…we live in a society where the gap between rich & poor is increasing and the middle class is being crushed.
Adil,
Thank you for the post highlighting the plight of millions in Pakistan. The mininmum wage does not even support a livelihood of a family is a joke by State of Pakistan.
I didn’t understood your point about the decent pay for government employees.
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL
Some Observations – Some Comments!
(1) This Post has been here more than a day now BUT has scored only 836 Hits and only 9 comments – and many in self defence. That should tell us something about the interest and the comfort level of ATP readeship. Other Posts on less serious, social subjects do much better!
(2) Unless there is a Control on Prices and living costs, No amount of increase in wages would make any difference. In this the Government has the Primary responsibility. Others including Traders, Shopkeepers, Mill-owners, Hoarders, Paper-Transactors and the like must play their role and responsibility in the society. Lest the like of a French Revolution overtakes us!
(3) Comparing what Developed States do for their poor to what our Government should also do is Odious. The people, in particular the rich and the businesses pay their share of taxes. Ours Donot! That is how the rich countries take care of their poor!
(4) Those readers living in Pakistan would vouch the recent spate and incidents of cases of maltreatment of domestic help – kids mainly, leading to their death and severe injuries. Thanks to an alert TV and media which brought that out in the open!
(5) One should be ashamed to say that these people don’t work hard enough and if they did they would not be in the state they are in. Try doing what they do for what they get in return. Did we provide them schools, quality education, basic health care……………. the list goes on??
(6) Talking of bad economic situation and insinuating the minimum wagers should be grateful for what they receive is preposterous. Does this bad economic argument applies to us the rich and the well-offs as well??? Have we also made any changes in our lifestyles.
One could go on…………………
I think Pakistan is going thru a revolutionary strategy to combat poverty……”Eliminate poor, poverty will follow”. A strategy soon to be on the Economic agenda of IMF, or is it already there.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/05/100502_ batt_sa_batt_wusat.shtml