It was a day for the workers in Faisalabad. Over 100,000 struck today, despite all police threats and heavy rain on 20th July. Efforts by both police and bosses to block their strike and rallies were stymied by the workers’ brave and courageous actions. The bosses had gangsters fire on the workers and pelted with stones. As for the police, they used a record number of tear gas shells and baton charges. Several workers have been injured by either police tear gas shelling or by these gangsters. Rana Tahir, district president of Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM), was injured and more than 100 workers have been arrested.
Thousands of workers, coming from different parts of Faisalabad, reached the city center. Workers showed their contempt for Section 144 -- which prevents public gatherings. It is just a piece of paper.
The end result has been a partial victory for the power loom workers. They were featured on all the private and public television channels in Pakistan. Most media reports were accurate: They reported that violence was started by the bosses and their security guards and also by the police. The only reported violence against property was a factory was burnt and a police motorcycle set on fire. But how did these fires happen? The media reported that the factory owner fired at the workers, injuring several. In retaliation workers burnt the factory. Again, when police started firing tear gas shells in the Ghulam Mohammed Abad area, workers retaliated. The police ran away, leaving their motorcycle behind, and it burned.
For most of the day, Faisalabad saw some glimpse of the 1970s, when the workers controlled the city. The whole city witnessed the power of the working class as they moved into action. They were everywhere and the police were unable to control them. The media reported that Faisalabad was a city of war between the power loom bosses and police, on the one side, and the workers. Women were in the forefront of confronting the police. And youth played a leading role.
The media blamed the administration for not listening to the LQM demands in time. Today, after a whole day of confrontation in which workers had the upper hand, the administration assured the leaders of the Labour Qaumi Movement that all their demands will be met once the workers are off the roads. The LQM leadership has all that in the past. They told the administration that the strike will not be over until the demands are met.
Over 100,000 workers struck more than 20,000 power looms factories in the city. When the call was announced on the 16th July by the LQM leadership at a public rally in Jhang workers there had already been on strike for 15 days. But neither the bosses nor the police took the warning seriously. They mis calculated, probably thinking that with two LQM leaders murdered, on 6th July, in their office by some 10 gangsters must have a demoralizing effect on the will of the working class to act. They must be regretting their mistake.
The workers’ demands were simple. They said implement a 17% increase in the minimum wage as recommended by the government for the private sector. However the government indicated that the individual owner has to agree. Meanwhile, public sector workers received a 50% increase.
Yet this year saw one of the highest rates of inflation in the history of Pakistan. The Pakistan Peoples Party Government has withdrawn all subsidies and increased the prices of electricity, gas, petroleum and almost all household items - as demanded by the IMF. Inflation was ten fold and every single family was affected.
Instead of listening to the workers, the Punjab government prepared other plans. They put one of the notorious police officers to head up the department, Mr. Aftab Cheema. Brought in to “tame” the labor movement, he is known for fake police encounters and the killing of criminals. But the Punjab Government of Mian Shahbaz Sharif cannot go very far on this road of repression.
On 19th July, almost all the main LQM leaders were threatened by police inspectors. Police from six different districts were called into Faisalabad. This was all to stop the peaceful action of the working class. But once the working class came into action, the balance of power shifted.
The news channels telecast the police as they fired on the workers and also showed that workers fought back. The power looms workers revived the Intifada movement. The television channels showed stone-pelting youth facing down the police equipped with rifles and guns.
The power loom bosses in Jhang district paid for a half-page advertisement in the Daily Express Faisalabad asking the government to suppress the workers movement. The bosses alleged that the Labour Qaumi Movement is linked to the Mutihida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a sectarian mass organization in Karachi and part of the coalition government at Center and in Sindh. The bosses claimed that 15 days strike has cost them over 9 billion Rupees and that 15,000 power looms factories are closed. They appealed to the government to prevent Jhang from becoming another Karachi.
Of course the bosses are lying. The LQM has nothing to do with the MQM. The LQM is an independent labor organization of mainly power loom and textile workers; its leadership has members of the Labour Party Pakistan. The advertisement is an attempt to smear the LQM leadership and to provoke the Punjab government against the working-class movement.
On 21st July at 3PM, I along with the main leaders of the LQM will address a press conference at the Lahore Press Club. We will encourage the movement to continue and spread to other districts as well. The will of the working class to change their situation can never be defeated.
Leading members of the Labour Party Pakistan met in Lahore on 20th July to chart out a strategy of support to the movement. It was decided that National Trade Union Federation will organize a massive solidarity rally in Lahore on 6th August. We support the struggle of the power loom workers and demand immediate implementation of the minimum wage in all private institutions.
During the second week of August a Workers Solidarity Conference will be organizing in Lahore. All the trade unions and social movements will be contacted for these actions.
The Labour Party Pakistan appeals to all its supporters to denounce the use of police force against workers and to condemn these repressive acts. The LPP appeals to all its supporters to use all means to support the working class movement in Faisalabad and Jhang.
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