Workers hold rally in Rawalpindi to mark Labour Day

RAWALPINDI, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st May, 2026) Hundreds of workers joined rallies and conventions organized by various labour unions on Labour Day here Friday, where union leaders called for stronger efforts to safeguard workers’ rights and urged better wages and welfare facilities.

A rally, organized by the Municipal Labour Union (CBA), the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) and other workers’ organizations, began from Liaquat Bagh and concluded at the Rawalpindi Press Club.

Prominent labour leaders, including Raja Abdul Hameed, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Syed Nazar Hussain Shah and Khalid Awan, attended the gathering alongside union office-bearers and a large number of workers. The participants carried banners and placards bearing demands for protection of workers’ rights, higher wages, regularization of contractual employees and better welfare provisions.

Addressing the gathering, labour leaders said the working class formed the backbone of the national economy, yet urgent measures were needed to resolve the issues confronting workers.

They called for effective implementation of the minimum wage, salary increases in line with inflation, regularization of contract employees and provision of basic facilities, including social security, healthcare, education and housing.

The speakers said sanitation workers and labourers employed played a vital role in keeping civic life functioning but many continued to work without adequate facilities and protections.

They pledged to continue a peaceful struggle for the rights of workers.

Earlier, speakers highlighted the significance of Labour Day, saying it commemorated the sacrifices made by workers in Chicago in 1886 in their struggle to secure an eight-hour working day and served as a reminder of the need to ensure fair rights, better working conditions and a dignified life for labourers.