Khurshid Ahmad, is a veteran trade union activist who has been working in the trade union movement for past half a century. Khurshid has been associated with the founders of labour movement in the Sub-continent namely Bashir Ahmad Bakhtiar and Mirza Mohammad Ibrahim.
Khurshid has been an elected member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) governing body representing the International Workers' Group since 1972. He was also elected as Vice President of the Annual International Tripartite Labour Conference held at Geneva in 1986 and Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific Regional Conference held in Korea in 2006.
The Lahore born labour leader Khurshid Ahmad has also been represented the workers at various national tripartite such as Pakistan Labour Commission, Pakistan Manpower Commission and National Tripartite Standing Labour Advisory Committee to highlight the workers' problems and emphasise the need for raising their socio-economic status.
The term labour movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organisation of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour relations.Trade unions are collective organisations within societies, organised for the purpose of representing the interests of workers and the working class.
In some countries, especially the United Kingdom and Australia the labour movement is understood to encompass a formal "political wing", frequently known by the name labour party, which complements the aforementioned "industrial wing"
In Europe, the labour movement began during the industrial revolution, when agricultural jobs declined and employment moved to more industrial areas. The idea met with great resistance. In 1886, in US industrial city of Chicago, the iron foundry workers united to struggle for fixing working hours. The industrialists used brute force to suppress the workers and opened fire at a rally killing scores of protesting labourers. Ist May is observed throughout the world as Labour Day to commemorate the sacrifices of martyrs of Chicago.
Though there is a vast literature about political and religious movements of Pakistan during the past 60 years, yet there are not many books about labour movements in Pakistan. This book presents a brief account of the trade union movement in Pakistan since its inception in 1947.
In a country like Pakistan mainly dominated by feudal lords, civil and military bureaucrats, trade unionists have to work under great personal risk, and quite often behind the bars as they were branded "miscreants, anti-social or communists" who were out to destroy the newly created Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Though this is not a well researched or scholarly work, yet the author has tried to throw some light on trade unionism in the Indo-Pak Sub-continent, trade union in Pakistan, Pakistan Workers Confederation, journalists struggle in Pakistan and labour legislation in Pakistan etc.
In the opinion of Juan Somavia, Director General ILO, "Khurshid is an integral part of the history of the Pakistan labour movement. His publication reflects the struggle that he and so many others have been engaged in to ensure that honest work brings a just reward; respect for rights at work including the fundamental right to organise freely and to bargain collectively; and respect for the dignity of work and the worker."
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Book : Labour Movement in Pakistan - Past
and Present
Author : Khurshid Ahmad
Publisher :Shanakht Press 40 Abbot Road, Lahore.
Price : Rs 200/-
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