14) SHAM DEVELOPMENT AT THE COST OF WORKERS' SAFETY

By Gurpreet Singh

     The recent deaths of workers in India, Pakistan and China have not only sent shock waves across the working class around the world, but have clearly exposed the so called development claims in the South Asian region.

     Over 300 workers died in Pakistani factory fires, around the same time as half a dozen workers died in an industrial disaster in Punjab, India. People had not recovered from the shock when a crane accident killed 19 people at a construction site in China. Although it was purely coincidental that these incidents happened in quick succession, the poor state of workers' safety in that region is not a matter of chance.

     Not a year has passed when we do not hear about workers dying in Chinese mines, despite continued economic growth in that country. Ironically, hundreds of mine workers get killed in Communist China, which has become an important player in the international market economy. Most of these mines operated illegally or provided unsafe working environments. The disasters take place in the form of flooding or gas leakage. The aisles full of goods made in China greet shoppers both in US and Canadian malls, but the condition of Chinese workers generates little interest in the western media.

     Likewise, India sees itself as an emerging super power, but has failed to obscure the ugly reality of unsafe working environments which its industries provide to the labourers. In September about 50 workers died in a blast at a fireworks factory in Tamil Nadu. In April, over 20 workers died in a factory collapse in the industrial city of Jalandhar in Punjab.

     Time and again, in spite of full‑fledged labour offices in almost all the major cities and district headquarters of India, corrupt authorities have turned a blind eye to the continued exploitation of workers and the unsafe environments under which they are forced to work. That the so-called "untouchables" continue the manual scavenging of human waste, despite a ban on this practice, is sufficient to prove this laxity.

     Though Pakistan has not claimed to be a big economic power, it boasts a nuclear arsenal. Conditions there are no different from its neighbour next door (read India). Corruption, laxity of authorities, and connivance between officials and industrial houses have remained a part of this theocratic society.

     The tall claims of growth, progress and power by these three countries mean nothing for workers who continue to face similar challenges due to lack of safety measures, which have been compromised because of profit considerations and inhuman cost cutting tactics. It's a shame that the workers, who should be credited for bringing what little development has come to these countries, are actually being treated as disposables. Instead of getting their dues in a dignified way, all they are getting is deaths and injuries.

(The above article is from the October 1-15, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)