Karachi:
Like every year, families of victims and labor market representatives gathered on September 11 to remember the 260 workers who perished in Baldia Factory Fire. Due to the rainy season, the most important memorial event will be held on Sunday, September 28. At the collection, the candles were lit in memory of the martyrs and participants promised to continue the struggle for workers’ security and against exploiting capital.
Hasna Khatoon, chairman of the Baldia Factory Fire Affect’s Association, said factory owners with government approval torn the building to erase the living reminder of the tragedy. “But this terrible event – the darkest chapter in the region’s industrial history – cannot be deleted from workers’ memory. Martyr’s blood will continue to inspire workers in their fight for rights,” she declared.
Camerat Zehra Khan, Secretary General of the Home-based Women Workers Federation, said the so-called SINDH work code constituted a “suicide attack” on labor rights. She accused the PPP government of running work protection introduced by her own founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and for trying to impose a contractor-based system hostile to workers. She promised strong opposition to what she described as an ILO-supported anti-work conspiracy.
The collection demanded that the German brand look publicly apologize to the victims, ensure that its supplier factories in Pakistan comply with the labor legislation and that a memorial must be built for Baldia Martyrs. It also called for a Health and Security Information Center at the site of Ali Enterprises, the transfer of ILO’s insurance agreement to the victims’ associations and unions and the formation of a supervisory committee.
