We welcome the journalists to this press conference. On 1st May 2007, the migrant community in US has adopted a unique method to express their solidarity with the May Day martyrs of Chicago. Like 2006, the May Day 2007 will be organized in solidarity with the migrant workers. After the “great American boycott 2006” this year also, the migrant workers will not go their jobs.
On May day 2006, over two million workers had participated in the Great boycott. On May Day 2007, migrant children will not go to schools, those who work in businesses and factories will go to the demonstrations instead of their jobs. This May Day will be “a day without migrant workers”.
There are over 13 million migrant workers in US, almost half of them are without papers. The US administrations term them as illegal; we believe that there is no human being that is illegal.
After 9/11, the US government is treating the migrant workers very badly. Muslims are a special target of them. Their houses are raided and they are deported without justifications. They are sent to Guantanabay where they are confined without any legal help. 6 load of airplane are sent to Pakistan full of so-called illegal ones. On the name of legalization, new immigrations rules are introduced which are a new shape of slavery.
The migrants without papers are asked to go back to their native countries to apply a visa to return to US. This is sheer non sense. After 9/11, over 80,000 registered with the US government only to find out that this was trap to send them back..
The US government has lost the confidence of the migrant community. They are demonstrating alongside with the labour movement in over 100 cities of US. The main demand is that US imperialism should not intervene in other countries affair, they should call back their forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, They should not control other countries by the economic dictations of IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisations. Labour Party Pakistan in total solidarity with these demands and appeal to Pakistani working class to side with the migrant struggling community.
Labour Party Pakistan also demand that 1st May should be celebrated a national holiday in US.
On the eve of May Day, Labour Party Pakistan condemns the racial attitude of the Middle East, European and US government’s policies towards the migrant workers. LPP demand that be treated as equal citizens with equal wages and concession than that of the local community at least. The workers must have a living wages.
The migrant community is worst off in Middle Eastern countries. In Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai, there are treated like slaves. They have no basic human rights. There are no labour laws, and on the name of housing, they are been forced to live in labour camps. Out of 800,000 population of Qatar, over 600,000 are migrant workers. They belong to Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Philippine.
In Qatar, a so-called “sponsorship” is used to bring in the workers. Any such labour is treated literary as slave of the sponsors. The workers can not anything with a permission of the boss. His passports are normally confiscated on arrival. He can not go back to his country without permission that is seldom granted.
In Qatar for a 12 to 16 hours working day, the workers get around $120 to 170 a month. Such workers normally come after they pay a huge amount to the agents. Their lives are mainly spent on paying the debts.
Then many “Double Shahs” comes to loot their rest of the income. In Pakistan one “Double Shah” is been arrested recently who was living in Dubai. His main work was to double the amount of any one who deposited it with him. He collected billions of Rupees from many ordinary Pakistanis who deposited their amount with Double Shah in the hope that their money will be doubled in 70 days.
Before the Asian Games in 2006, the construction work was at its peak. This was done despite tremendous heat wave, resulting 60 Nepalese workers death. These workers had no proper safety equipments and worked day and night. The situation is no better for domestic workers, mostly young women, who face physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of sponsors.
The labour situation in Dubai is even worst. Out of four million population, only 800,000 are locals. Here is wages are not more than $150 to $190 a month. Here on average more than 10 workers are dying every month in construction and other industrial accidents. In United Arab Emirates UAE, over 600 workers are dying in such accidents, over 90 percent in Dubai alone.
There is no legal protect for the domestic workers. The migrant workers are considered as temporary workers thus are out of the reach of labour laws. They face severe racial treatment. They do not have any equal rights as locals. They are considered third rate citizens. The so-called Muslim governments of Middle East are carrying worst type of exploitation of the Muslim and workers from other religions.
We demand an immediate end of this brutal racist treatment of migrant workers. They must be treated as equals. The labour laws be extended to all the migrant workers. Sponsorship schemes should be abolished and restriction on migration be ended. Workers must be considered as equal human being and be treated humanly.
On May Day, we say
No to anti immigration legislation, and the criminalization of the immigrant community,
No to militarization of the borders,
No to immigrant detentions and deportations,
Yes to citizenship for undocumented workers,
Yes to speedy family unifications,
Yes to civil rights,
Yes to living wages and labour rights
Release all the detainees at Guantanabay, close the detention center
No to occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, American troops go home,
Farooq Tariq
general secretary
Labour Party Pakistan
40-Abbot Road Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: 92 42 6315162 Fax: 92 42 6271149 Mobile: 92 300 8411945,
labourpartypk yahoo.com www.laborpakistan.org www.jeddojuhd.com