Labour Day being observed in Pakistan today

ISLAMABAD: Today, on May 1, 2025, Pakistan celebrates Labour Day, observing a public holiday designed to celebrate workers’ rights and their contributions to society. The theme of this year’s Labour Day is ‘Social justice and decent work. Safety and health of workers.

The significance of this day is reinforced with many events and activities across the country, to reflect the importance of labor rights and workers’ welfare.

Labor unions and several worker organizations will engage in seminars, rallies, and processions in a show of solidarity and invite dialogue about workers’ rights.

These events typically focus on demanding better wages, benefits, and labor rights, while putting the plight of workers in a general sense in Pakistan in the spotlight, and taking them this opportunity to demonstrate their clashes with the government(s) and the challenges they have faced in the last few years in general.

Pakistani citizenship, as an International Labour Organization (ILO) Member, has ratified conventions, including the core conventions to uphold workers’ rights and ensure decent labor practices. Their first labor policy in 1972 established May 1 as a public holiday and established social security and welfare funds.

As workers across the country celebrate; citizens join in this recognition of the part workers play in their society and their economy, many will opt to work on this special day (usually for extra pay), while others observe the day and take their rightful best whenever possible, to reflect and consider their progress, and what remains to be done in the future in developing workers rights and welfare.

Prime Minister’s Message on Labour Day

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to creating safe, healthy, and dignified conditions for its workers, who are the true engine of growth and resilience in our country.

The prime minister stated that the protection of fundamental labor rights is guaranteed in our Constitution and complies with the ILO’s core conventions, which Pakistan is a responsible signer of, in his message marking Labour Day.

“I am proud to say that Pakistan has made considerable legislative and administrative changes to further entrench workers’ protections, and created even more support for the occupier health and safety over the past few years. We have ratified significant international labour conventions, like the 2014 Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention and the Maritime Labour Convention, and we have advanced these commitments with new commitments on occupational safety and health.

” He emphasized how, for the first time, no worker in Pakistan lacks a National Occupational Safety and Health Profile, which will facilitate safer, healthier workplaces nationally.

“Our government has taken significant steps to expand these important institutions like the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF), so that workers receive an abundance of workers’ protections.”