Seminar told: Karachi’s 2015 heatwave killed 5,000, mostly workers

KARACHI: The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) marked International Labour Day with a seminar Thursday at Karachi Press Club (KPC) on ‘Climate Change and Workers’ Rights’.

Opening the seminar, PILER director Abbas Haider recalled that the 2015 Karachi heatwave killed more than 5,000 people by Edhi Foundation’s count — against an official toll of 1300 — with the dead concentrated in working-class neighbourhoods where power and gas outages compounded the disaster.

He said women bore a disproportionate burden, both as workers and as the household members absorbing the strain of failing infrastructure, and noted a rise in domestic violence cases linked to that strain. Thirty percent of textile and garment sector workers are women, he said, adding they are hired through third-party contractors and denied the right to unionise, with social security institutions largely failing to cover them. He raised alarming findings from Sindh’s social security system: of 800,000 workers registered with SESSI, only 80,000 are receiving services.

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) leader Saeed Baloch said workers experience climate change at home and in their communities and workplace, and called for the needs of mining workers to be central to any green transition. He criticised the government’s proposed solar tax and continued reliance on coal, and said farmers and fishermen are losing their livelihoods as Paris Agreement commitments remain unfulfilled.

Aurat Foundation leader Mehnaz Rahman warned that Pakistan’s engagement with climate realities arrives late, producing late policy responses. She criticised wasteful government spending on fossil-fuel-powered vehicle convoys.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan vice chairperson Qazi Khizer called for an independent investigation by leading HIV specialists into an outbreak in which 78 children born at Valika Hospital under SESSI tested HIV-positive, describing it as harm caused by the state itself.

National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) leader Nasir Mansoor framed climate action as a matter of survival for trade unions — a fight for livelihoods and the planet at once. Citing a recent Dawn report on insufficient snow accumulation in Pakistan’s glaciers this winter, he warned of grave consequences for Sindh and said COP pledges remain unfulfilled. He referenced the cross-border climate accountability case filed in Germany seeking compensation for victims of the 2022 Sindh floods. “We are the last generation that can save this planet,” he said.

Economist Kaiser Bengali offered a candid reckoning with four decades of attending May Day events, arguing that the rights to strike and to unionise have been progressively eroded and the collective strength of workers and students dismantled.

Closing the seminar, Abbas Haider called for heat stress to be specifically included in occupational safety and health law and for the revival of the National Labour Council, established during the lifetime of PILER founder Karamat Ali, for a collective struggle of the working class.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026