Source/Credit: The News: By Mansoor Ahmad:Tuesday, August 30, 2011
LAHORE: “I am convinced that this system is made for the rich and they will take away any opportunity that comes for the poor,” said Noor Elahi, who failed to find work for the second day running.
“While affluent families are shopping for Eid, my children will have no food today,” he said in a trembling voice.
Thousands of daily wagers like him remain out of work for many days a week owing to depressed economic conditions.
Abid Ali, a spinning mill worker, said he gets out of work whenever there is gas suspension.
He said the spinning mills will close for 10 days from Eid as the gas supplies will remain suspended.
“How can we even think of celebrating Eid when we see 10 days of starvation ahead?” he said, adding that more than 1.5 million daily wagers in the textile industry cannot afford the luxury of buying new clothes for their children. “We have no idea what to do when we have no work for 10 days,” he said.
Industrial workers are not the only victims of reduced earning. Masons, carpenters, painters and unskilled labourers remain in trouble most of the time.
More than 30 percent of all earners are daily wage workers, according to official statistics.
Categories: Human Rights, Humanity First, Pakistan